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
Crimea Railway of Crimea, the Russian-installed authorities of the new Republic of Crimea established Crimea Railway as a publicly-owned company (a unitary enterprise in Russia) and the city of Sevastopol. In Spring 2014, railway equipment was exported from Crimea to mainland Ukraine, including passenger locomotives, track machines and new cars. The parts of the Crimean Directorate in the Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhya Oblast of Ukraine were transferred to the Zaporizhia Directorate of Cisdnieper Railways. The trains of the reassigned railway were painted over, with the emblem of Ukraine and the logo of Ukrainian Railways replaced by the emblem of the Republic of