Republic of Crimea
The Crimea is a diamond-shaped peninsula in southern Ukraine, surrounded on its NW, SW and SE sides by the Black Sea and on its NE side by the Sea of Azov; it is connected to the Ukranian mainland by a narrow isthmus. The main city is Sevastopol. The Crimea was the location of the Crimean War of 1853-56 in which British, French, Sardinian and Turkish forces fought Russia in a war sparked by an abstruse dispute over the question of custodianship of the Holy Places in Jerusalem. The peninsula was also the location of heavy fighting diring the Second World War. It contains the resort town of Yalta, location of the Yalta Conference of February 1945, attended by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin.
In February 2014 Russian soldiers landed in Crimea. It is controversial, if Crimea belongs to Ukraine or to Russia.[1] On March, 16 2014 there will be a referendum. Liberal European Union called the referendum "illegal".[2] On March 11, 2014 Crimea declared its indepence from Ukraine.[3]