Is it true that by annexing Crimea in 2014, Russia did not violate the Russian-Ukrainian border treaty?

Russian bloggers are spreading the claim that the annexation of Crimea in 2014 does not violate the 2003 Russian-Ukrainian Border Treaty, as there is no description of the water border in this treaty and the land border was not violated by anyone as a result of the annexation of Crimea (see, for example, posts [1] and [2]).

The veracity of this statement was assessed by Mark Beygelzimer, PhD, systems analyst, head of the Trust but Verify project.

Facts

Figure 1. On the map of Ukraine taken from the UN official website, the red line indicates the land Ukrainian-Russian state border in accordance with the Treaty of January 28, 2003. [3]. The Crimean peninsula (shown with a blue arrow) is internal, not border, territory of Ukraine. 

The Treaty on the Ukrainian-Russian State Border of January 28, 2003 [3] describes in detail the line of demarcation of the states on land (Article 1, Annexes 1 and 2 of the Treaty, see Figure 1), but does not describe the water border, for which Article 5 of the Treaty presupposes a separate agreement of the parties.

However, the absence of a description of the water border has no bearing on whether or not the annexation of Crimea violates the Treaty. The fact is that the Crimean peninsula prior to the events of 2014 was unconditionally recognized throughout the world as an internal territory of Ukraine. This is recorded, for example, in:

• Constitution of Ukraine [4],
• Constitution of the Russian Federation (in editions prior to the annexation of Crimea in 2014) [5],
• Russian–Ukrainian Friendship Treaty [6],
• the above-mentioned Treaty on the Ukrainian-Russian State Border [3, 7],
• Treaty Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait [8],
• Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet [9],
• UN documents [10].

Official leaders of the Russian Federation prior to 2014 also recognized Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea in their public statements. For example, in 2008, Vladimir Putin, then Prime Minister of Russia, stated in an interview with the German television station ARD: "Crimea is not any disputed territory. There are complicated processes going on there, in Crimea. But this is an internal political problem of Ukraine itself" [11].

Thus, in order to forcibly annex the Crimean peninsula, it was necessary to necessarily pass the water border, regardless of the distance from the coast. In other words, the state border of Ukraine and, accordingly, the Treaty on the Russian-Ukrainian Border 2003, were unequivocally violated. What, in fact, is recognized in the UN General Assembly Resolution of March 27, 2014 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine [12].

Verdict

The claim that the annexation of Crimea in 2014 does not violate the 2003 Ukrainian-Russian Border Treaty on the grounds that the Treaty does not describe the water border is not true. The Crimean peninsula is an internal, not border, territory of Ukraine, so wherever the water state border of Ukraine runs, it was in any case violated during the annexation of Crimea.

Sources of information

1. Russia did not violate the Russian-Ukrainian border treaty. Posted on April 15, 2020. https://dzen.ru/a/XpZtCPUdgEJNgy6b

2. Did Russia violate the border treaty with Ukraine of 28.01.2003. Posted on June 10, 2018. (in Russian) https://omchanin.livejournal.com/2474813.html

3. Treaty between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian-Russian State border (with Annex and Maps). Kiev, January 28, 2003.

4. Constitution of Ukraine 1996.

5. Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993.

6. Russian–Ukrainian Friendship Treaty. Kyiv, May 31, 1997.

7. P.P. Kremnev. The concept of "Crimean law" and the doctrine of international law in relation to the secession of Crimea from Ukraine. Vestn. Moscow University. Ser. 11. Law. 2015. No. 3. P. 143-148 (in Russian).

8. Treaty Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. Kerch, December 24, 2003.

9. Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet. May 28, 1997.

10. Map of Ukraine on the EN website. https://www.un.org/geospatial/content/ukraine-0

11. Putin: Crimea is not a disputed territory. Korrespondent.net, August 30, 2008. https://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/569767-putin-krym-ne-yavlyaetsya-spornoj-territoriej

12. UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine (27 March 2014). 

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