The Crimea between Soviet identity and post-Soviet geopolitics

The problem of the Crimea has since 1991 played a crucial and central role in relations between the Ukraine, striving for consolidation of its newly gained sovereignty and the Russian Federation, trying to limit the damages caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Two conflicts in the area have marked these relations and have, contrary to the Russian expectations, contributed to a kind of emancipation of the young Ukrainian state. These two were the conflict between the Russian majority in the Crimea and the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the division of the Black Sea Fleet that has been perceived by both parties as a strategic asset and even more as an important bargaining chip. This article is an attempt to show how these two conflicts have been interlocked and how they have been influencing relations between the two most important European successors of the Soviet Union. The two states involved have embarked on two different and basically conflicting strategies of tackling the problems caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia has many times shown that it perceives itself as a legitimate heir of the Soviet empire and has reserved the right to treat the post-Soviet space as its exclusive sphere of influence. The Ukraine treated the collapse of the Soviet Union as an opportunity to first claim and then consolidate the country's sovereignty. This conflict of interests has resulted in many tensions in relations between the two countries and the Crimea has very often been one of this conflict's main arenas and one of the main bones of contention.