Yevhen MAHDA*
Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014 and the Crimea occupation have dramatically changed the power balance in the region. The peninsula has been militarized and has become a serious threat not only for Ukraine (as a foothold for the further invasion) but for the whole Black Sea area.
Russian occupation of Crimea was legitimized by the idea of the exclusive importance of Crimea for the Russian identity. This narrative has been going for both domestic and international audiences but with considerable differences and nuances of course. In spite of them, the major components of the idea were as follows: 1) Sevastopol is a city of Russian military glory (Crimean war, WWII); 2) prince Volodymyr the Great who brought Christianity to the Kyivan Rus is in fact Russian national hero.
* PhD in Political Sciences, Publishing and Printing Institute of NTUU ‘Ihor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’, Associate Professor, Ukraine