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 actions." He was blacklisted in Ukraine as a result. Other prominent figures to support the annexation of Crimea and as a result getting blacklisted in Ukraine were actress Irina Alfyorova, singer Yuri Loza, actor Valentin Gaft, comedian Mikhail Zadornov, and winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film director Nikita Mikhalkov. Director Alexander Mitta expressed support of the return of Crimea to Russia; however, Mitta also said that he didn't like the fact that it was used as a way to distract the Russian population of the internal problems Russia was facing. The annexation of Crimea divided the