The Crimea issues in Ukrainian-Russian relations: political analysis

Abstract

The relevance of the topic of the thesis determined, on the one hand, by the theoretical and practical importance of studying the political aspects of the situation around the Crimean peninsula after the collapse of the bipolar system of international relations and the Ukrainian state gaining independence, on the other hand, by the extreme importance of the Crimean problems in Ukrainian-Russian relations, which have acquired its apogee in March 2014 in connection with the occupation of the Crimean peninsula by the Russian Federation. The constant struggle of geopolitical actors for influence on the peninsula is due to its geostrategic position, as well as security and geoeconomic factors. In addition, the Crimean issues cover the regional and interregional level, because after the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula, the problem of Crimea is a key issue on the agenda of most international organizations and global forums. The most striking example of these challenges was Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which became the first major interstate conflict on the European continent since World War II. The annexation of Crimea in 2014 directly challenged the international legal norms developed after the Second World War.
The purpose of the study was to study the political-legal, socio-economic, and humanitarian development of the situation around the Crimean Peninsula in historical retrospect with the aim, firstly, of determining its influence on the formation of Ukrainian-Russian interstate cooperation in post-bipolar conditions, and, secondly, of justifying the need development of an action plan for our state after the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and taking into account the armed conflict that continues to this day.
The object of the research is Ukrainian-Russian relations in post-bipolar conditions. The subject of scientific research is the development of the Crimean Peninsula through the prism of Ukrainian-Russian interstate cooperation (from 1991 to the present).