Demarcation and Legalisation of the Borders of the Ukrainian SSR with its Neighbours – Accession of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR

Abstract. This article is part of a series of 5 articles dedicated to the establishment of the borders of the Ukrainian SSR (and its legal continuation under the Union Constitution of 5 December 1936 of the Ukrainian SSR) with the neighbouring Soviet republics – the RSFSR, the Belorussian SSR (BSSR) and the Moldavian ASSR (Moldavian Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic; since 1936 – the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) and the latter's legal successor – the Moldavian SSR. The author points out that the issue of transferring Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR was primarily driven by economic considerations – the war-torn and ruined by the deportation of the indigenous population, waterless Crimea was "hung around the neck" (budget) of the Ukrainian SSR. The event was tacitly timed to coincide with the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Ukraine's "reunification" with Russia. The transfer of the territory was not subject to any expression of popular will (referendum), and the decision was made behind the scenes by the Presidiums of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and the two "fraternal republics". The thesis of contemporary Russian propaganda that Crimea was "given to Ukraine by a drunken Khrushchev", who at the time was not yet a top figure in the Soviet leadership, is also questionable. In any case, the transfer of Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR had full legal force, which is being actively disputed by Russian politicians and scholars of the post-Soviet period. It was within the framework of Ukrainian statehood that the multinational peninsula received autonomous status (within the Russian Federation it is now part of the Southern Federal District). The consideration of the issue is brought to the 2010s, without touching on the events of the so-called "Russian Spring" of 2014, which began with the occupation of Crimea by the regular Russian army and its proxies – "polite people". Attention is paid not only to the legal but also to the political and economic aspects of the peninsula's being part of the Ukrainian SSR and independent Ukraine. Keywords: borders of the Ukrainian SSR; modern borders of Ukraine; national question in the internal policy of the USSR.