Crimean Referendum on March 16, 2014 – Annexation or Striving for More Fair Living Conditions?

At the end of 2013 the anti-government protest movement under the name of Euromaidan broke out in Ukraine. In the course of development the protests were seen to be gradually spreading over the central and western parts of the country. As popularity of Euromaidan was growing, anti-protest movements called Antimaidan were organised in eastern and southern parts of the country. Their main peculiarities were pro-governmental disposition and open condemnation of the public movement of Euromaidan and its participants.

Alongside with gradual radicalisation of protests in the centre of Kyiv, tensions were growing in the “opposite camp”. The most famous solution of the “conflict of interests” was the referendum held in Crimea on March 16, 2014 in the course of which residents of the autonomous republic expressed their will to declare independence from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

Despite public condemnation of this referendum as well as refusal of the world community to recognise the legitimate nature of its results, processes of establishment of Russian laws, standards and regulations are going at full drive.

In connection with the foregoing, the social research aimed not only at trying to understand the main causes of such strong pro-Russian disposition, but also to analyse to what extent such disposition of the Crimean residents has remained the same upon expiration of the transitional period has been conducted. We try to understand actual causes of such drastic social and political changes within the Crimean territory, how much the residents are satisfied with such changes and how they assess the existing level of fairness of public relations in Crimea.

In other words, we try to understand what “change of the country of residence” means for the Crimeans: the annexation by Russia or striving for more fair living conditions?