FACT CHECK | Did Crimea officially join Russia in a referendum in 2014? No.

The Vanglaplaneet portal is once again spreading false claims from the Kremlin. This time, it claims that Crimea was officially annexed by Russia in 2014, thanks to a referendum held in Crimea. The references used in the article ultimately lead to the Russian state propaganda channel RT.Vanglaplaneet, which has repeatedly disseminated Kremlin narratives in the past, is now writing about the state of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. The post highlights the terms of the peace plan published in the US media, one of which is the recognition of Crimea as part of Russia.The Vanglaplaneet’s post reads: „Crimea was officially annexed to Russia as a result of a referendum in 2014.“Facts Crimea is an internationally recognized part of Ukraine.The so-called referendum in Crimea organized by Russia is not internationally recognized.In 2018, during the first Trump administration, the US signed a declaration rejecting Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the US pledged to uphold this policy until the territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored.Russia recognized Crimea as part of Ukraine in a friendship treaty signed in 1997. Despite this, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea in 2014 and has since spread the false claim that the peninsula legally belongs to Russia. The Kremlin has justified this claim by citing a „referendum“ held in Crimea in 2014, in which, according to the Kremlin, the Crimean population wanted to join Russia.The referendum in Crimea was neither legitimate nor democratic. On February 26, 2014, armed „little green men“ of the Russian Federation occupied Crimea, the referendum was announced the next day, and the vote took place on March 16, 2014. International observers were not allowed into the region, and the vote was conducted at gunpoint and in a hasty manner.The referendum offered two options: to join Russia or to return to the 1992 constitution, which would have granted Crimea greater autonomy. Those who supported Crimea remaining part of Ukraine under the Ukrainian constitution in force in Crimea had no opportunity to express their preference in the vote.Local authorities claimed that the voter turnout was 83%, and that 96.7% of voters voted in favor of joining Russia. These figures are implausible, given that almost 40% of Crimea’s population were ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, many of whom boycotted the vote. A leaked report by the Russian presidential human rights council two months later showed an actual voter turnout of only 30%, with about half of them voting in favor of joining.No international organization recognizes the so-called referendum. In 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, which emphasized that the Crimean referendum was not legitimate and could not serve as a basis for changing its status. On December 17, 2018, the UN reaffirmed its non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea.On April 17, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that Russian soldiers were present in Crimea in the run-up to the referendum „to help the population express their opinion.“ He added that the annexation plan had been developed weeks before the referendum.During Trump’s first term in 2018, the Trump administration signed the „Crimea Declaration“, which stated, among other things: „As we did in the Welles Declaration in 1940, the United States reaffirms as policy its refusal to recognize the Kremlin’s claims of sovereignty over territory seized by force in contravention of international law. In concert with allies, partners, and the international community, the United States rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and pledges to maintain this policy until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored.“Vanglaplaneet’s post is referenced from the InfoWars portal, which systematically spreads conspiracy theories and disinformation. The InfoWars article is, in turn, referenced from the Russian propaganda channel Russia Today (RT), which is sanctioned in Europe and the United States.Verdict: False. Crimea belongs to Ukraine. Russia occupied and annexed Crimea in 2014.