Russian soldiers seized the Crimean parliament on 27 February 2014, triggering the Russo-Ukrainian War and enabling Crimea's annexation three weeks later.
Key Facts
- Date
- 27 February 2014
- Perpetrators
- Unmarked Russian soldiers
- Building seized
- Crimean Verkhovna Rada
- PM removed
- Anatolii Mohyliov (Ukrainian politician)
- PM installed
- Sergey Aksyonov (Russian politician)
- Ukrainian legal classification
- Terrorist attack
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Amid the political upheaval following the Euromaidan protests and the ousting of Ukrainian President Yanukovych, Russia moved to assert control over Crimea. The peninsula's strategic importance and its majority Russian-speaking population provided Moscow's stated justification for intervention.
On 27 February 2014, unmarked Russian soldiers seized the Crimean Verkhovna Rada and the Council of Ministers building in Simferopol. Within hours, Russia orchestrated the removal of pro-Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Mohyliov and the installation of pro-Russian politician Sergey Aksyonov as the new Prime Minister of Crimea.
The takeover set the stage for a disputed referendum on 16 March 2014 and Crimea's formal annexation by Russia on 18 March 2014. The incident is widely regarded as the opening act of the Russo-Ukrainian War, a conflict that escalated significantly in the following years.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Sergey Aksyonov.
Side B
1 belligerent
Anatolii Mohyliov.