The Crimean Crisis of 2014
Aspects of Constitutional and International Law
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The Crimean crisis and the struggle with Russia over Ukraine’s territorial integrity mean a limited return to an East-West confrontation in Europe, the likes of which have not been seen since the end of Cold War and the integration of the post-communist states in a new, pan-European system and a global economic, financial, and communication order that is growing ever more deeply and tightly integrated. The Kremlin, which seeks a new, imperial Russian hegemony in the post-Soviet space – now within the regulatory framework of a “Eurasian Union” – felt strategically threatened by the EU-oriented “Maidan-revolution” in Ukraine. Moscow responded by illegally annexing the Crimea – the base of its Black Sea Fleet and a symbol of Russian national greatness – and by destabilizing Ukraine so as to prevent its integration in the West and bind it to Russia permanently.
(Osteuropa 5-6/2014, pp. 61–86)