Russian-occupied territories

• 1. Introduction

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  The Russian-occupied territories of the post-Soviet world trace their origins to the 21st of December 1991, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist. That dissolution left behind a web of borders that many communities suddenly refused to accept. Arguments over language and national identity turned violent within months of the breakup. In each conflict that followed, Russian military forces intervened. And in each case, those forces never left. Today, Russia maintains armed presences in parts of Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. The international community regards these presences as military occupations in violation of international law. Russia disputes this at every level. How did disputes over alphabets and ethnicity harden into three decades of occupation? And what has international law actually been able to do about it?

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• 2. The Transnistrian Standoff

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  Moldovan communities across the former Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic began demanding that their language be written in the Latin alphabet, not Cyrillic. They also wanted it officially recognized as Romanian rather than Moldovan. That shift was formally approved in March 2023, but in the early 1990s it ignited a confrontation that still has not resolved.

  On the left bank of the Dniester river, Russian-speakers formed the majority. They wanted Russian kept as an official language alongside Moldovan. They opposed unification with Romania and insisted that Moldovan continue to be written in Cyrillic. In Gagauzia, an ethnically Turkic region in Moldova's south, the reaction was similar.

  The separatists declared Transnistrian independence with Russian military backing before the 1992 war reached its most violent point. The bloody battle of Bender ended in separatist victory. Russian forces, which had intervened on the separatist side, remained. Moldova has since repeatedly asked Russia to withdraw from what international law still recognizes as Moldovan territory. Those requests have been refused. Transnistria, for its part, has made several formal applications to become part of Russia.

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• 3. Abkhazia and South Ossetia

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  After the Russo-Georgian War, President Medvedev signed decrees on the 26th of August 2008 recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign states. Russia established diplomatic relations with each territory and placed troops along their demarcation lines with Georgia. Two days later, on the 28th of August, the Georgian parliament voted unanimously. Its resolution declared both regions Russian-occupied and classified Russian troops as occupying forces. A law arising from that resolution forbids entry into the regions from Russia and subjects violators to fines or imprisonment.

  Al Jazeera, the BBC, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty were among the outlets calling both regions Russian-occupied territories. Non-governmental organizations reached the same conclusion. In April 2010, Georgia's parliament formally asked 31 countries to recognize the occupations. It also asked those countries to acknowledge the mass displacement of civilians from both regions as ethnic cleansing. The United Nations General Assembly has since passed annual resolutions condemning forced demographic changes in both regions. In 2022-95 UN member states supported one such resolution, with 12 voting against and 56 abstaining.

  Abkhazia can only be entered from Zugdidi Municipality, via the Enguri Bridge, under Georgian law. South Ossetia does not permit foreigners to enter from Georgian-controlled territory. Starting in September 2019, the crossing points into South Ossetia were also effectively closed to local residents. A special permit system now governs two remaining crossing points: Akhalgori-Odzisi in Mtskheta Municipality, and Karzmani in Sachkhere Municipality. A 2022 UN report found that Russia's enforcement of the de facto border violates the principle of freedom of movement. South Ossetia has also discussed potential annexation by Russia on multiple occasions.

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• 4. The 2014 Annexation

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  The Ukrainian parliament designated the 20th of February 2014 as the date when Russia began what it called a "temporary occupation" of Crimea and Sevastopol. Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula the following month. It now administers the territory as two federal subjects: the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. Ukraine continues to claim Crimea as an integral part of its own territory. Most foreign governments share that position, as does United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262. Some UN member states have recognized Crimea as part of Russia, or expressed support for the 2014 Crimean status referendum.

  Parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts also came under Russian-backed separatist control during the 2014 conflict. By 2015, Ukraine's parliament calculated that 7% of the country's territory was under Russian occupation. That figure covered the Crimean peninsula and the eastern Ukrainian land held by separatists. The situation in eastern Ukraine, unlike the Crimean annexation, remained formally unresolved until Russia made a much larger move eight years later.

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• 5. The 2022 Invasion

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  On the 22nd of February 2022, Russian president Putin ordered his forces to "perform peacekeeping functions" in Ukraine. Russia had, two days earlier, recognized the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as independent states. On the 24th of February, Putin ordered the start of what Russia called a "special military operation." Russia made it illegal inside its borders to refer to the conflict as a war. Outside Russia, it was widely regarded as the biggest European armed conflict since the Second World War.

  Wagner mercenary groups, Chechen Kadyrovites, and Russian-led separatists of the DPR and LPR all participated alongside Russian armed forces. Russia occupied parts of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts with these forces. Observers have described the invasion as part of contemporary Russian imperialism. In September 2022, the Ukrainian army recaptured almost all of Kharkiv Oblast.

  Referendums were held in the occupied territories from the 23rd of September to the 27th of September 2022. On the 30th of September, Putin signed treaties integrating the DPR, LPR, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia into Russia. The Russian constitutional court approved the annexations, and the Russian Federation Council ratified them. The newly claimed borders of the Russian Federation, however, had not yet been determined.

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