Russia Warns West Will Be Ukraine's 'Downfall' 10 Years After Taking Crimea

A decade after Russia annexed the strategically located Crimean Peninsula amid nationwide unrest in Ukraine, Moscow's top envoy in Washington has told Newsweek that defeat was inevitable for the neighboring country as it continued to count on Western support throughout the course of a two-year war between the two nations.

"We are confident that the goals of the special military operation will be achieved and will allow us to put an end to the years-long war against its own people by Kiev junta," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in remarks shared with Newsweek.

"It is time for ordinary Ukrainians to give up their illusions," he added, "and realize that the creation of an 'anti-Russia' with total dependence on the West doesn't lead to prosperity but to an inevitable downfall of the country."

While Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine began with the launch of what the Kremlin called a "special military operation" in February 2022, the roots of the conflict took hold eight years earlier when an uprising in Kyiv toppled the government, bringing new leadership that sought closer ties to the West. Washington and European allies portrayed the events as a popular rejection of the former Soviet sphere of influence, but Moscow viewed them as an attempt by the U.S.-led NATO military alliance to further expand across Russia's borders.

As pro-Russia separatists took up arms against Ukrainian security forces in the eastern Donbas region, Russian troops moved to secure the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and, on March 18, 2014, a referendum paved the way for annexation, despite a lack of international recognition and protests from Kyiv and Western supporters.

Today, as casualties continue to mount in one of the deadliest wars of the century despite barely shifting frontlines, Antonov likens the events of 10 years ago to "an axe that smashed Ukraine."

Antonov argued that Moscow had "no choice but to stand up in defense of the Russian-speaking population in its historical lands, to fight back against nazis and to stop the NATO military machine from approaching our borders."

The narrative is vehemently rejected by Ukraine and its Western partners, who have committed to Kyiv more than $230 billion in assistance, including increasingly sophisticated weapons systems, since February 2022.

"It all began with Crimea—this Russian revanchism, this Russian war," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated last month during an address coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the entrance of Russian forces into the peninsula. As such, he argued that "it is precisely there, in Crimea, that Russian evil must suffer a decisive defeat."

In comments shared with Newsweek, a U.S. State Department spokesperson affirmed Washington's view that "Crimea is Ukraine," and disputed Moscow's claims to the events leading up to the peninsula's annexation and the subsequent conflicts.

"Ukraine did nothing to provoke this war, either in February 2022 or in 2014," the State Department spokesperson said, "when Russia first instigated hostilities in Crimea and other parts of eastern Ukraine."

Ukrainian and Western officials have also frequently criticized Russia's annexation of Crimea, as well as follow-up referendums orchestrated by Moscow that resulted in the annexation of four more Ukrainian provinces—Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia—in September 2022 amid ongoing clashes in all four regions.

As voting for Russia's presidential election took place in the five Russia-annexed provinces, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the "United States condemns Russia's continuing efforts to undermine Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence through sham elections held in occupied Ukrainian territories."

"To be clear, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson and Crimea are Ukraine," he added. "The results of these Potemkin-style exercises will be dictated by Moscow and cannot reflect the free will of the citizens of Ukraine who are being compelled to vote in them."

Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry for comment.

Despite Western complaints as to the integrity of the race, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed an overwhelming victory on Sunday, virtually coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Crimea's annexation. A sixth term would allow Putin to become the longest-serving Russian leader since Catherine the Great, who first oversaw the annexation of Crimea, then ruled by a Tatar Khanate, in the late 18th century.

The peninsula remained a part of Russia through civil war, the establishment of the Soviet Union and World War II, and was first transferred to the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954, though central power was retained in Moscow. This changed in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine as a sovereign state.

But Crimea retained strategic importance for the newly established Russian Federation as the peninsula's largest city, Sevastopol, remained the headquarters for Russia's Black Sea Fleet. When instability erupted across Ukraine 10 years ago, Crimea and its surrounding waters instantly became a flashpoint.

Amid the events of 2014, Antonov argued that the West only encouraged what he considered to be a radical right-wing takeover of Ukraine that targeted dissidents and Russophone communities. He asserted that "European mediators did not lift a finger" when "fascist thugs trampled on the agreements" signed between then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and opposition figures "and overthrew the legitimate government."

"It became absolutely clear that people in Crimea, which is predominantly inhabited by Russians, were in serious danger," Antonov said. "Crimeans turned to Russia for protection. Obviously, our country could not leave people in trouble and had to come forward.

"First of all," he added, "it was necessary to help create conditions for peaceful and free expression of will, so that Crimeans could determine their own fate."

Ukrainian officials have rejected any association with fascism and have instead accused Russia of pursuing behavior akin to Nazi Germany during its attempted conquest of Europe.

U.S. officials have also echoed Ukrainian accusations that alleged Russia has committed abuses against the Crimean population since establishing control over the peninsula. In its latest international human rights report published last year, the State Department asserted that "Russia's occupation and purported annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula continued to affect significantly and negatively the human rights situation there."

Now, Crimea, with a centuries-long history of battles between competing powers, once again finds itself on the frontlines.

Ukrainian officials have emphasized that the withdrawal of Russian forces from the entirety of the country's territory, including the five annexed regions, was a prerequisite for peace, a position backed by Washington.

"Any initiative for a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine must be based on full respect for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, within its internationally recognized borders and consistent with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter," the State Department spokesperson told Newsweek.

"No one wants this war to end more than Ukraine and its people," the spokesperson added. "Russia is solely responsible for the war and is the sole obstacle to peace in Ukraine. Putin could end this war today. Unfortunately, the Kremlin has yet to demonstrate any meaningful interest in ending its war, quite the opposite."

As Russia continues to conduct waves of drone and missile strikes on Ukraine, attacks widely attributed to Ukrainian forces have struck various targets in Crimea as well as a number of warships of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the surrounding waters.

But what the Zelensky administration has portrayed as a concerted effort to liberate Crimea from Russian rule, Antonov described as "terrorist methods, targeting the civilian population and infrastructure on the peninsula." He further accused Kyiv of "implementing a policy of blockade of Crimea, trying to deprive people of water, heat, and electricity."

"Remarkably, this fact is deliberately ignored by the U.S. authorities," Antonov said, "who make a constant show of their concern for human rights."

Antonov said stated the "development of the Ukrainian conflict is another proof that reunification with Russia was the only right and possible step for the Crimeans, that fully matched their fundamental interests." He said Moscow has only promoted the development of infrastructure despite Western sanctions and protected minority rights in the peninsula.

As Zelensky continued to appeal for greater assistance amid increasingly fierce political battles in Western capitals over the future of aid to Ukraine, Antonov warned those advocating for greater support would only bring about further suffering for the country and its people.

"It is obvious that Western politicians and 'professional human rights activists' are absolutely careless about the fate of ordinary Ukrainians caught between the millstones of armed conflict," Antonov said. "Our opponents are doing everything possible to ensure the emergence of Ukraine as an anti-Russian State, continuing its suicidal slaughter."