COMPARISONS ARE ODIOUS. INTERNATIONAL LEGAL PRECEDENTS MISUSED BY RUSSIAN LEGAL SCHOLARSHIP TO JUSTIFY THE SEIZURE OF CRIMEA

Abstract

The author analyses historical examples that the Russian legal scholarship provides to justify the seizure of Crimea by the Russian Federation in February-March 2014 and explain the process as the 'reunification'. Special attention is drawn to the Kosovo case, the demise of the USSR and achievement of independence by Ukraine in 1991, the Aaland Islands case and the Quebec case are examined together with other 'precedents'. An author thoroughly considers the arguments used by the Russian side in its attempt to prove that in the course of the 'secession' from Ukraine and 'accession' to the Russian Federation in 2014 the 'Crimean people' exercised the generally recognized principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples in the same manner as the subjects in the cited cases. The argument of Russian scholars are analyzed against the background of the factual evidence and the issue of their international law sufficiency is considered. The author qualifies the actions of the Russian Federation and draws relevant conclusions. Keywords: Crimea, the Russian Federation, secession, justification, case, independence, argument, self-determination, Ukraine.