willingly sacrificed long-held desires for acquisition of their neighbours’ land, as is the case with Hungary and Romania. 13 The norm has been internalized by
states as well as by their citizens. Therefore, it is not surprising that the 2014
annexation of Crimea and especially the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia
came as a shock to the world society.
The issue of Crimea dates back to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and had
been since pointed out as an extremely vital area for Russian interests and, therefore, a potential source of instability. 14 In align with the utis possidetis
principle, in the case of dismemberment of a larger entity like the Soviet Union
the new frontiers, instead of nationalism and common culture, are drawn along
the lines of previous administrative units. Over the course of the twentieth
century in approximately 75 percent of secession cases the new borders conformed to previously existing administrative frontiers. 15 This practice supposedly minimizes potential political, jurisdictional and economic disputes. 16
As in Crimea this is not always the case. From 1921 to 1945 Crimea constituted
an autonomous Soviet Republic when it was delegated to an administrative
unit(oblast). In 1954 the USSR leadership authorized its devolution to the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in an effort to reinforce its control over
Ukraine at a time of bloody clashes in eastern Ukraine where Ukrainian
nationalist and anti-communist paramilitary groups were operating. The
predominantly (75 percent) Russian population of Crimea and the black sea fleet base in Sevastopol would strengthen the Russian grip over Ukraine. 17 After
13 Zacher, p. 222. 14 Zbigniev Brzezinksi, The Grand Chessboard, trans. by Ελένη Αστερίου , (Athens: Εκδόσεις Λιβάνη , 2020), p. 162-164. 15 David B. Carter and H. E. Goemans, ‘The Making of the Territorial Order: New Borders and the Emergence of Interstate Conflict’, International Organization, 65.2 (2011), 275-309 (p. 291). 16 Carter and Goemans, p. 278. 17 See, Ioannis Kotoulas, Η ρωσική προπαγάνδα και η Ουκρανία (2023), <https://www.foreignaffairs.gr/articles/74108/ioannis-kotoylas/i-rosiki-propaganda-kai-i-oykrania > [accessed 14 May 2023].
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