Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Crimean Peninsula juts into the northern coast of the Black Sea and connects to mainland Ukraine via the Isthmus of Perekop. To the east lies the Kerch Strait which separates Crimea from Russia's Krasnodar Krai while Romania and Turkey sit across the Black Sea to the west.
Recorded history begins around the 5th century BCE when Greek colonies emerged along the southern coast. The region later became a client state of Rome from 63 BCE to 341 CE before falling under Venetian or Genoese control in the medieval era.
Catherine the Great incorporated Crimea into the Russian Empire in 1783 following the Russo-Turkish War that ended in 1774. This annexation significantly increased Russia's power in the Black Sea area and led to the peninsula becoming the site of principal engagements during the Crimean War from 1853 to 1856.
Soviet authorities deported the Crimean Tatars and several other nationalities elsewhere in the USSR after regaining control in 1944. Joseph Stalin ordered these deportations as collective punishment because some had joined invading Waffen-SS units forming Tatar Legions during World War II.
The population numbers approximately 2.4 million people today with Sevastopol standing as the largest city on this strategic peninsula. Tourism arrivals reached a record 6.1 million in 2012 before falling to 3.8 million in 2014 then rebounding to 5.6 million by 2016.