Country Russia Established 2014 | Type Campaign medal First awarded 2014 | |
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Awarded for Service in Crimea during the 2014 Russian intervention and annexation Campaign(s) Russian military intervention in Ukraine | ||
Medal "For the Return of Crimea" (Russian: Медаль «За возвращение Крыма») is a Russian campaign medal of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The existence of the awards was also confirmed by Yaroslav Roshchupkin, an employee of the Central Military press service.
The medal was awarded to military and civilian personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for services and distinction displayed during the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the March 16, 2014 Crimean status referendum, and the entry of Crimea into the Russian Federation as the result of the referendum. The medal can also be awarded to other citizens of the Russian Federation and to foreign citizens for assistance in solving the tasks assigned to the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation relating to these security measures taken in the Crimea. Besides to troops it was also handed over to Chechen chief Ramzan Kadyrov and Krasnodar Krai governor Aleksandr Tkachyov, as well as the Night Wolves Leader for "helping Crimeans to self-determinate".
As it can be seeing at the photo of the reverse side of the medal Russian Defense Ministry has clearly indicated the term of the campaign: February 20 — March 18, 2014. Why the official date of the beginning of the "Return of Crimea" operation is February 20 when Viktor Yanukovych was yet an acting head of Ukrainian state? In fact, only the next day President Yanukovych left Kyiv, and it was already 22 February 2014 when the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Resolution “On the dissociation of the President of Ukraine from fulfillment of constitutional powers and appointment of early presidential elections in Ukraine”, used by Russia as a pretext for accusations of the alleged “unconstitutional coup in Ukraine”. The fact that Crimea started its "homing" to Russia two days before Yanukovych's removal from power and his resignation from the post of the President of Ukraine can be considered as an indirect proof that Russia launched its well-planned armed aggression against Ukraine on February 20, 2014 with the military operation of its Armed Forces on seizing a part of Ukrainian territory — Crimean peninsula.[1]