Russian lawmakers seek to annul Soviet-era transfer of Crimea to Ukraine

Russian lawmakers have submitted a draft law to the State Duma that would annul the Soviet Union’s 1954 decision to transfer control of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR. 

The draft law, published on the parliament’s website on March 11, describes the handover as a “political crime,” arguing that the decision was made “in violation of the constitutions of the RSFSR and the USSR” and “without taking into account the will of the Russian people.” 

The draft law also explicitly states that it aims to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty over the peninsula and make it “much more difficult” for Kyiv’s allies to support its demands for the return of Crimea to Ukraine.

The Soviet government transferred jurisdiction over Crimea from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. Russia and Ukraine later recognized each other’s borders amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union. 

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, after seizing the peninsula and holding a status referendum in violation of the Ukrainian constitution and international law. With the exception of a few countries, the international community considers Crimea Ukrainian territory. 

According to the news outlet SOTA, one of the bill’s authors, United Russia lawmaker Konstantin Zatulin, has called for nullifying the 1954 transfer on at least three occasions, most recently in February of this year.