Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Yanukovych. At the end of the meeting Putin remarked that "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia". On 23 February, pro-Russian demonstrations were held in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. On 27 February masked Russian troops without insignia took over the Supreme Council (parliament) of Crimea, and captured strategic sites across Crimea, which led to the installation of the pro-Russian Aksyonov government in Crimea, the conducting of the Crimean status referendum and the declaration of Crimea's independence on 16 March 2014. Russia formally incorporated Crimea as two federal subjects of the Russian Federation with effect from 18 March
Timeline of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation of secession of Crimea from Ukraine if the situation in the country worsens. The head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Refat Chubarov criticized the announcement and said that Konstantinov who was in Moscow at the time, openly invited Russian security forces to intervene in Crimean internal politics. The Russian military operation against Ukraine started on this date, according to the inscription on the Medal "For the Return of Crimea", awarded by the Russian Ministry of Defence. A Ukrainian law signed September 2015 designated this as the "date of the start of the temporary occupation". In Simferopol, a pro-Euromaidan