Medal "For the Return of Crimea" its "homing" to Russia two days before Yanukovych's removal from power and his resignation from the post of the President of Ukraine can be considered as an indirect proof that Russia launched its operation against Ukraine of seizing Crimean peninsula on February 20, 2014. Medal "For the Return of Crimea" The Medal "For the Return of Crimea" () is a Russian campaign medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The existence of the awards was also confirmed by Yaroslav Roshchupkin, an employee of the Central Military press service. The medal was awarded to military and civilian personnel
Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation networks there is a movement to gather volunteers who served in the Russian army to go to Ukraine. On 28 February President Putin stated it was of "extreme importance of not allowing a further escalation of violence and the necessity of a rapid normalisation of the situation in Ukraine" in telephone calls with key EU leaders. Already on 19 February the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to the Euromaidan revolution as the "Brown revolution". The Federation Council approved that Russia may introduce a limited contingent of Russian troops in Crimea for the security of the Black Sea Fleet and