ANNEXATION OF CRIMEA TO RUSSIA: AN ANALYSIS OF GEOPOLITICAL EVENTS FOR DIDACTIC USE

Abstract With the referendum held on March 16, 2014, Crimea decided to separate from Ukraine and to join the Russian Federation; the RF, after a few days, formally accepted the request by annexing the Crimea. This event, which gave rise to divergent positions among the governments, generated a serious international crisis, the effects of which are still in full manifestation. This contribution intends to highlight the facts that led to this crisis, examining the different points of view: the one against the Russian annexation (Ukraine, European Union, USA and its allies) and the one in favor of the annexation (Russian speakers of Crimea and obviously Russian Federation). The intent is to dwell on the comparison between the case of Crimea and that of Kosovo, to underline how international law is interpreted and used differently, depending on the circumstances, to support what is most convenient. This exploitation disqualifies the entire supranational juridical complex and the positions based on it. In the end, what really counts in the interpretation of geopolitical events is the analysis of political, economic and military interests. The Russian Federation, after the Ukrainian government’s rapprochement with NATO (which emerged from the Euromaidan demonstrations) cannot afford to lose a territory that plays a strategic role of fundamental importance and which has belonged to its sphere of influence for hundreds of years. Added to these reasons is the desire of Russian-speaking Crimeans to have guarantees about their future, threatened by the anti-Russian policy of the new government in Kiev. The analysis of current geopolitical events plays a decidedly educational role, fundamental for developing, in learners, the critical capacity, now atrophied by the continuous media bombardment and by information that tends to a single point of view.