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
Timeline of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation notification to defense minister Ihor Tenyukh Ukraine must give the Crimea peninsula to Russia without any military defense or Russia will occupy the whole country. Ousted President Yanukovych insisted that military action was "unacceptable" and that he would not request Russian military intervention at a press conference. According to Yanukovych Crimea must remain part of Ukraine. On March 1, 2014 the de facto Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov appealed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a signed statement calling for Russia to "provide assistance in ensuring peace and tranquility on the territory" of Crimea. Meanwhile, Aksyonov took control of