RUSSIAN INSTITUTE RECTOR URGES WESTERN COLLEAGUES TO STUDY CRIMEA HISTORY
ITAR-TASS, Russia
March 20, 2014 Thursday 05:40 PM GMT+4
MOSCOW March 20
– The reaction of Western partners to Russia’s actions in the situation
around Crimea – a former Ukrainian region that became part of Russia on
Tuesday – is in many respects due to their poor knowledge of Crimea’s
history, Anatoly Torkunov, the rector of the Moscow State Institute
of International Relations (MGIMO), said Thursday.
Torkunov was speaking at a meeting of the Russian Historical Society
and the Culture Council under the chairman of the State Duma, the
lower house of Russia’s parliament.
“Unfortunately, there is much ignorance and lack of knowledge among
many of our neighbors in Europe, not to speak of colleagues who live
overseas,” Torkunov, who is a co-chairman of the Russian Historical
Society, said.
He said he often has to answer “questions which are ridiculous from the
viewpoint of history knowledge.” “When the colleagues turned to facts,
they had a totally different idea [of the situation],” the rector said.
Torkunov supported State Duma speaker Sergey Naryshkin, who earlier
spoke at the same meeting and said “inappropriate foreign reaction
to the events in Crimea is in many respects connected with the
hypocritical position of our Western partners and poor knowledge of
our history in the West.”
Torkunov also backed Naryshkin’s idea that historical education
activities should be carried out more intensively.
“We should actively get involved in such work, both for the Russian
readers and citizens and in order to better understand the situation
in the West,” the MGIMO rector said. “We live in the world and should
make efforts for this world to better understand us.”
The Republic of Crimea, where most residents are Russians, held a
referendum on March 16, in which some 97 percent of the population
voted for Crimea to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia. On
Tuesday, Russia and Crimea signed in Moscow a treaty on Crimea’s
accession to the Russian Federation as a constituent member.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Crimea’s decision
to hold the referendum was in line with international law and the UN
Charter, and was also in line with the precedent set by Kosovo.
Ukraine’s self-proclaimed new authorities, who took power in the
country as a result of a coup in February, and the West have cried foul
over the Crimean secession referendum claiming the vote was illegal.
Russia does not recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, saying
President Viktor Yanukovich, who had to leave Ukraine citing security
concerns in February, remains the legitimate leader of the country.
Torkunov also shared his impressions of his numerous trips to Crimea.
“Despite Crimea not being a Russian constituent member for over
20 years, and despite a powerful process of Ukrainization, Crimea
remains Russian,” he said. He told those gathered that when he met
Crimean residents, he often heard a question from them: “Why are we
not in Russia?”
Torkunov said “a direct, peaceful, victimless will expression of
the people” took place in Crimea, “unlike the situation in Kosovo;
the dream of many generations of people came true, when the people
was able to express its desire to live with its Fatherland with which
it had lived for two and a half centuries.”
The rector called on the Russian state to use cultural and historical
documents to prove that it is right.
CRIMEA POPULATION AND HISTORY
According to Ukrainian state statistics service data, as of late 2013,
Russians accounted for 58.5 percent, Ukrainians for 24.3 percent,
Crimean Tatars for 12.1 percent, Belarusians for 1.4 percent and
Armenians for 1.1 percent in Crimea.
In line with the main Crimean regional statistics body, as of early
2014, Crimea had a population of 1,959,000 people. Sevastopol, a city
with a special status, has a population of 384,000 people.
In 1783, Russian Empress Catherine the Great conquered Crimea and it
became part of the Russian Empire. After the 1917 Russian Revolution,
Crimea became the Crimean People’s Republic. It changed hands a few
times in the following years, and eventually became the Crimean
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Russian Soviet
Federative Socialist Republic, in 1921.
In 1945, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was
transformed into the Crimean Region, part of the Russian Soviet
Federative Socialist Republic.
In 1954, First Secretary of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party’s
Central Committee, Nikita Khrushchev, transferred Crimea to the
jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became part
of newly independent Ukraine. In 1992, it was renamed the Republic
of Crimea. It received broader autonomy, adopted its Constitution and
introduced the post of republic president. In 1995, the Verkhovna Rada,
Ukraine’s parliament, canceled Crimea’s Constitution and abolished
the post of Crimea’s president.
In 1998, Crimea’s new Constitution entered into force and the
Republic of Crimea was renamed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,
part of Ukraine. Crimea remained in that capacity until March 2014.
Following the March 16, 2014 referendum at which an overwhelming
majority of Crimeans voted for leaving Ukraine and joining Russia,
Crimea declared its independence from Kiev. On March 18, 2014, Crimea’s
authorities signed a treaty with Moscow on Crimea’s accession to the
Russian Federation.