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
Timeline of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation help of the EW (electronic warfare) complex Avtobaza," and as a result, "the device made an emergency landing and passed into the possession of the [Crimean] self-defense forces almost unbroken." The company further claimed that this is the second U.S. drone to be intercepted over Crimea since the crisis began. The Pentagon subsequently denied Rostec's claims, saying that "there is zero truth" to the reports. A day before the Crimean referendum, tens of thousands of Russian demonstrators held anti-war protests in Moscow opposing Russian military intervention in Ukraine. It was the largest protest in Russia since the 2011–13 Russian protests.