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Crimea’s referendum vote was condemned illegal by the European Union and the United States.
A series of sanctions against Russia and Crimea followed as a result, stifling Russia’s economy.
CCTV’s Julia Lyubova filed this report.
Crimeans marking one year since annexation by Russia
Crimea's referendum vote was condemned illegal by the European Union and the United States. A series of sanctions against Russia and Crimea followed as a result, stifling Russia's economy.Highlights:
- It has been exactly one year since Crimea held a referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
- The vote was condemned as illegal by the European Union and the United States and a series of sanctions against Russia and Crimea followed.
- Throughout the year Crimeans had the opportunity to swap their Ukrainian passports for Russian ones. Most of the two million people here chose to do it, according to Russia’s federal migration service.
- Many Crimeans say they are happy to be a part of Russia. But shortly after the disputed referendum last year, the EU and the US applied various sanctions on the region.
- Several Crimean officials banned from travel and Western investment to Crimea was cut.
- Visa and MasterCard have ceased operations in Crimea, making it impossible to pay by credit card and blocking businesses from sending or receiving payments.
- Inflation in the region reached 42 percent last year, according to the Crimean state statistics service.
- Following the annexation, Crimea has also faced energy and transport problems.
Charles Ortel on sanctions against Russia
The future of sanctions against Russia will be decided later this week. But European Union leaders are still divided on how to proceed.
Economic sanctions expire in July and all EU leaders have to be on board to impose more. For more on this, CCTV spoke to Charles Ortel. He is the managing director of Newport Ventures.
