Political status of Crimea declared their independence from Ukraine as a single united state under the name of "Republic of Crimea". These two entities (Crimea and Sevastopol) were then annexed by Russia, where the Crimean Autonomous Republic became the "Republic of Crimea" as a Russian republic and Sevastopol became a Russian federal city. However, Ukraine and the majority of the international community do not consider the merge, the independence, the referendum, nor the annexation legitimate and still consider both entities as parts of Ukraine. Despite international opinion however, the currency, tax and legal system are all operational under Russian jurisdiction. Ukraine has applied for
Reaction of Russian intelligentsia to the 2014 annexation of Crimea film industry) published an open letter of support for their Ukrainian colleagues on its website. By 13 March 2014 the letter had been co-signed by more than 200 people. After an open letter of support for Russian policy in Crimea was published, on March 11, 2014 a response from Ukraine appeared. Reaction of Russian intelligentsia to the 2014 annexation of Crimea 2014 Russian intelligentsia reaction on events happened in Crimea refers to the reaction of the Russian intelligentsia to the Russian annexation of Crimea. Over 100 cultural figures signed a letter supporting Russia's return of Crimea. Among those who signed