Russia signed Accession Agreement with Crimea

The Russian Federation signed an agreement with Crimea for accession of Crimea in the Russian Federation on 18 March 2014 in Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. The agreement also included a treaty on forming new constituent entities within Russian federation.

The agreement was signed by the Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov and Chairman of the Coordinating Council for the Establishment of the Sevastopol Municipal Administration Alexei Chaly and Chairman of the State council of the Republic of Crimea, Vladimir Konstantinov.

The agreement will temporarily apply from the date of signing of the agreement and will come in force once it is approved by the constitutional court and ratified by the Parliament of Russia.

Main Provisions of the Agreement
• It consists of 10 articles and a preamble.
• These articles contains specific provisions in relation to the accession of the Crimea to the Russia, formation of new Russian entities and their territories,  citizenship, government bodies etc.
• It provides for formation of two new constituent entities within Russian federation- the Republic of Crimea and the Federal city of Sevastopol.
• A transitional period will come into effect from the day, Crimea accedes to the Russian Federation and new entities are formed till 1 January 2015 for settling issues of integrating the new federal constituent entities into Russian systems.
• Issues relating to conscription and military service in Crimea and Sevastopol will also be resolved during transition period.
• Legislative and other regulatory legal acts of the Russian federation will apply on the territories of the Crimea, Federal city of Sevastopol unless otherwise specified by the Russian legislation.
• Ukrainian citizens and non citizens permanently living in Crimea and Sevastopol will automatically be recognized as Russian unless they express their wish to maintain their current citizenship within a month.
• Regulatory legal acts of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol that contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation shall not be executed.
• Crimea will have Crimean Tatar, Russian and Ukrainian as official languages.
• Elections to the government bodies of Crimea and Sevastopol shall be conducted on 13 September 2015. Till then, current Parliament of Crimea and the Council of Ministers of Crimea along with the Legislative Assembly of the city of Sevastopol will continue their work.
• The delimitation of the maritime boundary in the Black Sea and in the Sea of Azov will be based on the norms and principles of international law and Russia’s international agreements.
• Border of the Republic of the Crimea adjacent to the Ukraine shall be deemed as the border of the Russian Federation.
• Crimea to officially introduce the Ruble as a second currency along with the Ukrainian Hryvna, which will remain an official currency until January 1, 2016.

The Accession Agreement is based on a nationwide referendum which was conducted on 16 March 2014 in the autonomous Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. According to the Crimean officials, about 97% of the Crimea’s residents voted in favour of splitting from Ukraine and rejoining Russia.

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