Russia’s Federation Council to legally confirm that the decision to give Crimea to Ukrainian SSR was illegal

In spring 2015, Russia’s Federation Council will consider a bill that legally confirms that the decision to give Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954 was illegal.

While speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko said that the bill is being drafted by the committees on constitutional legislation and on international affairs. “I hope that in spring we will be able to consider it,” Matviyenko said, noting that this is the competence of the Federation Council to consider questions concerning change of borders.

She said that the bill will restore historical justice. “We considered it historically fair to draft a bill that would declare this decision illegal and unenforceable,” Matviyenko said, noting that the decision to give Crimea and Sevastopol to Ukrainian SSR was contrary to the Constitution of the Soviet Union.

“In order to be able to change the borders of the Russian Federation, they needed the consent of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Such a consent could be given only by the Supreme Council of the USSR, following referendums in both Russia and Ukraine. They didn’t do this. So, they acted against the Constitution,” Matviyenko said.

This, according to her, enables the Russian Federation, as the legal successor of the USSR, to give a legal assessment of the events that took place in 1954. “For Ukraine this bill will have no consequences as Crimea and Sevastopol are already parts of the Russian Federation,” Matviyenko said.