The capture of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on 27 February 2014 is an episode of the
Crimean crisis in which
Russian armed forces without insignias took over the
Crimean Parliament Building, leading to the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...
. The Crimean Prosecutor's Office considered the incident a terrorist attack.
Background
In February 2014, following the
2014 Ukrainian revolution that ousted the
Ukrainian President
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
,
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...
, the Russian leadership decided to "start working on returning Crimea to Russia" On February 25, a pro-Russian rally organized by the
Crimean Front
The Crimean Front ( uk, Кри́мський фронт, Krýms’kyj front) was one of the Red Army fronts of World War II, which existed from January-May 1942.
Composition
It was commanded throughout its existence by Dmitr Timofeyevich K ...
and
Cossack organizations was held outside the building of the
Crimean Verkhovna Rada. The protesters shouted pro-Russian slogans and demanded separation from Ukraine by holding a referendum. Before the protesters came the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of the ARC
Volodymyr Konstantinov, announcing the extraordinary session of February 26. The media reported that a question about the withdrawal of the Crimea from Ukraine could be put to the session, but Konstantinov denied such rumors, calling it the provocation of the "Makeevka team in the Crimean government".
On February 26, two events took place in parallel by the walls of the ARC Verkhovna Rada: a pro-Ukrainian rally organized by the
Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People
The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People ( crh, Къырымтатар Миллий Меджлиси - ''Qırımtatar Milliy Meclisi'') is the single highest executive-representative body of the Crimean Tatars in period between sessions of the Q ...
, which gathered up to ten thousand participants, and a pro-Russian rally of about 700 people, initiated by the "Rus unity" party. Due to unsatisfactory security measures taken by law enforcement officers, there were fights between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian rally participants, resulting in the death of two people of the pro-Russian rally. The pro-Russian rally was pushed to the inner court of the Crimean Verkhovna Rada, and scheduled the day before parliament's session was canceled.
Course of events
On the morning of February 27, around 4:30, two groups of 10-15 armed men in
military uniform without insignia entered the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea and took control of it.
Immediately after the capture, the attackers were barricaded indoors, having previously removed a small number of staff. Crimean People's Deputy from the
UDAR
The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform ( uk, Український демократичний альянс за реформи Віталія Кличка; the acronym UDAR ( uk, УДАР) translates to "strike" or "punch", en, Ukrainian ...
Serhiy Kunitsyn said that the building was captured by 120 highly trained personnel who had a large arsenal of weapons, including automatic weapons, machine guns and grenade launchers, which would allow them to defend themselves for a long time. Persons who seized the building described themselves as self-defense activists for Russian-speaking citizens of Crimea, although the
Mejlis
( ar, المجلس, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning "sitting room", used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural conne ...
leader,
Refat Chubarov
Refat Abdurahman oglu Chubarov; Crimean Tatar Cyrillic: Рефат Абдурахман огълу Чубаров uk, Рефат Абдурахманович Чубаров, translit=Refat Abdurakhmanovych Chubarov (born 22 September 1957) is ...
, said that Russian people were in charge of these people; later it became clear that the operation was orchestrated by
Russian special forces.
At 8:30, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Crimea
Anatolii Mohyliov appealed to the inhabitants of Crimea, informing them of the capture of the Verkhovna Rada of the ARC by unknown persons numbering about 50. At 9 o'clock Anatolii Mohyliov announced talks, but they did not have any result, because, according to Mohyliov, the unknown people refused to speak.
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko
Valentyn Oleksandrovych Nalyvaichenko ( uk, Валенти́н Олекса́ндрович Налива́йченко; born 8 June 1966; Zaporizhia) is a Ukrainian diplomat and politician.
On 24 February 2014, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parl ...
, the then-head of the
SBU, believed that there was no forceful capture of the ARC Verkhovna Rada, as the local Crimean authorities, including the police, voluntarily transferred control over the building and weapons.
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References
External links
Chronology of events that took place under the walls of the Verkhovna Rada of the ARC on February 26, 2014, restored per minute
// "The Crimean Prosecutor's Office", 02/26/2018
Chubarov: "A year ago we were sure that the Crimea had been saved"
{{coord missing, Ukraine
2014 in Ukraine
Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
Attacks in Europe in 2014
Attacks on legislatures
History of Crimea
Simferopol
Battles of the Russo-Ukrainian War