A historical reference
The media has reported that a movement called “Crimea-Sevastopol-Russia,” whose main goal is to help the Crimean Peninsula reunite with Russia, was founded in Russia on Nov. 9. At a special press conference held in Moscow at the Central Journalists’ House the president of the National and International Security Foundation, Leonid Shershnev said the following: “Russia and Ukraine, like Sevastopol and the Crimea, should remain in a single Fatherland, and the Russian authorities should do everything possible in order for this to became a reality already in the nearest future!” For some reason the exact date was not mentioned; neither was the meaning of “do everything” defined — up to a war?)
The immediate pretext for the briefing was the launch of a Russian-language book with a slogan-length title: The Crimea-Sevastopol-Russia: History; Geopolitics; The Future and a roundtable with the equally lengthy title: “On the Status of Sevastopol and the Crimea in the Context of the Possible Repeal of the Great Treaty between Russia and Ukraine of May 31, 1997.” Deputies of Russia’s State Duma (unnamed), members of the Council of the Federation of the RF (unnamed), Russian and Ukrainian public figures (unnamed), experts, and politicians took an active part in the polemics.
It was as clear as day to everyone present in the Central Journalist’s House that “the prolongation of the Great Treaty of 1997 is not advantageous neither to Russia nor Ukraine” (although Ukraine is still unaware of this). The speakers accentuated the “known” fact that the Crimea was transferred to Ukraine when a single Fatherland existed and there were fraternal ties between Kyiv and Moscow.
But, the speakers in Moscow declared, in today’s conditions there is nothing like that (fraternal ties, probably), and Ukraine will hardly manage to keep the Crimea without Russia’s support (a strange and fantastically exaggerated supposition) and Turkey and other Eastern countries will lay claims to it (the Crimea).
The description of this allegedly menacing situation creates the impression that Russia is on the threshold of the Crimean War of 1853-1856 and is about to start erecting fortifications around Sevastopil or capture Turkish Synope. “Therefore it is in our mutual interests to resolve the Crimea’s status fairly.” (Only this way!) “Otherwise, the peninsula may become a bridgehead for anti-Russian aggression,” the wise Shershnev believes.
At the same time the head of the National and International Security Foundation underlined that the social movement for the Crimea’s incorporation into Russia “does not oppose Ukraine, but advocates civilized fraternal relations between Moscow and Kyiv.” (Even though they will seize the Crimea, fraternal relations will remain!)
The following statements got even tougher: “When Russia gets the Crimea back, Ukraine will achieve security and be able to concentrate on its domestic problems. (What fraternal far-sightedness!) If Ukraine returns this territory that has been Russian since time immemorial, this will help it establish normal relations with Russia,” Shershnev stated rather unexpectedly. (One should give him his due — he is very modest in his claims. After all, there are many other nice places in Ukraine, for example, Zakarpatska oblast, Ukraine’s east, etc.)
Answering a question from a correspondent from Russkaia Liniia (The Russian Line) about which political and civic forces in Russia and Ukraine the newly formed movement is counting on, Shershnev replied that “the official Russian government understands this problem somewhat differently.” (I very much doubt this!) “But this does not mean that there are no political and civic forces that support our movement.” (I have no doubt of this.)
“As for Ukraine, we may count only on civic organizations,” Shershnev pointed out. “Right now a movement in the Crimea is gaining in strength in the name of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, “With Russia Forever!”(I am at a loss for words!) “There are a number of civic organizations and veterans’ movements. All of them will become stronger, especially under the conditions of the Ukrainian government’s open Russophobia and forced Ukrainization policy.”
The head of the foundation did not fail to draw the attention of all present to the fact that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (read: Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate) is the only structure that has managed to preserve unity in Ukraine, despite all the political realities, and it too needs support.
A whole array of Ukrainian and Russian scholars, historians, and political experts (unnamed) have joined the initiative group of this new structure. In conclusion Shershnev again announced orbi et urbi that the movement’s major task is to form public opinion concerning the repeal of the Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty (this usually means a declaration of war?) and the renewal of negotiations about Sevastopil and the Crimea’s territorial affiliation.
A historical note on the territory that has been “Russian since time immemorial”
The systematic colonization of the Crimea was begun by the ancient Greeks in the 6 th century B.C. In 5 B.C. the independent Bosphorus Kingdom was founded. Later it was conquered by Julius Caesar, who transformed it into a borderland province of Rome, where people who had fallen into disfavor were exiled from the capital. During the great resettlement of the Crimean peoples the Crimea was captured and destroyed by the Huns and other nomadic peoples. In the 12 th century this region was settled by the Tatars, who established the Crimean Khanate. In the Middle Ages, the Genoese merchants who had settled on the Crimean coast were later devastated by the Ottoman Turks (1475). In the following centuries, the Crimean Khanate was constantly fighting (or concluding treaties with) the Rzeczpospolita (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), Muscovy, and the Zaporozhian Cossacks.
The year 1783 was a decisive one in the Crimea’s long history — the peninsula was conquered by Russia. This occurred 223 years ago, during the reign of Catherine II, who was extremely fond of collecting foreign territories. I repeat: the Crimea was never part of Russia before 1783. Moreover, after its annexation by Russia, the Crimea remained a Tatar territory and was firmly connected with the Ottoman Empire by a common religion — Islam. The only reason that the Ottoman Empire did not make a decisive attempt to take the Crimea from Russia, even during the Crimean War, which was lost by Tsar Nicholas I, was because it was greatly weakened in the 19th century.
