The politics of Ukraine take place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic and a multi-party system. A Cabinet of Ministers exercises executive power. Legislative power is vested in Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
The Constitution of Ukraine is the fundamental law of Ukraine. The constitution was adopted and ratified at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada, the parliament of Ukraine, on 28 June 1996. The constitution was passed with 315 ayes out of 450 votes possible. All other laws and other normative legal acts of Ukraine must conform to the constitution. The right to amend the constitution through a special legislative procedure is vested exclusively in the parliament. The only body that may interpret the constitution and determine whether legislation conforms to it is the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Since 1996, the public holiday Constitution Day is celebrated on 28 June.
The prosecutor general of Ukraine heads the system of official prosecution in courts known as the Office of the Prosecutor General. The prosecutor general is appointed and dismissed by the president with consent of the Verkhovna Rada. The prosecutor serves a term of office of six years and may be forced to resign by a vote of no confidence in parliament. The current prosecutor general, since 27 July 2022, is Andriy Kostin.
The State Council of Crimea is the parliament of the Russia-administered Republic of Crimea. It claims to be a continuation of the 'Supreme Council of Crimea' following a vote by the Ukrainian parliament to dissolve the Supreme Council of Crimea. The Parliament is housed in the Parliament building in the centre of Simferopol.
The chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea, is the head of government of the Republic of Crimea.
The politics of Crimea today is that of the Republic of Crimea on one hand, and that of the federal city of Sevastopol on the other, within the context of the largely unrecognised annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in March 2014.
The President of the Republic of Crimea was the head of the then-styled Republic of Crimea, Ukraine from February 16, 1994, to the time of the liquidation of this position on March 17, 1995. The post was liquidated as it contradicted the Constitution of Ukraine.
The Party "Soyuz" is a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine that was mostly based in Crimea until 2014. It was registered in June 1997 under a registration number 867.
The President of Ukraine is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, conducts negotiations and concludes international treaties. The president is directly elected by the citizens of Ukraine for a five-year term of office, limited to two terms consecutively.
Yuri Aleksandrovich Meshkov was a Ukrainian politician and leader of the pro-Russian movement in Crimea. He served as the only President of Crimea from 1994 to 1995.
The Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the basic law of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a republic on the Crimean peninsula as part of Ukraine. The constitution establishes the republic's status and authority within Ukraine. It granted Crimea the right to draft a budget and manage its own property.
Pavlo Valentynovych Lebedyev is a Russian and former Ukrainian politician, financier and businessman who is currently a member of the Board of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RUIE). Head of Coordination Council of the Crimean branches of RUIE.
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Ukraine on 26 October 2014 to elect members of the Verkhovna Rada. President Petro Poroshenko had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential elections in May. The July breakup of the ruling coalition gave him the right to dissolve the parliament, so on 25 August 2014 he announced the early election.
The Crimean status referendum of 2014 was a disputed referendum on March 16, 2014, concerning the status of Crimea that was conducted in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol after Russian forces seized control of Crimea.
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula, while the City of Sevastopol occupies the rest.
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The Crimean problem or the Crimean question is a dispute over the status of Crimea between Ukraine and Russia. The dispute began during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but did not escalate into a conflict until the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, when Russian special forces were deployed to occupy Crimea and took over its government buildings. The official results of an internationally unrecognized referendum held during the occupation allegedly indicated overwhelming support for Russian annexation. The Crimean parliament and the autonomous city of Sevastopol unilaterally declared independence from Ukraine to ideally form a country named Republic of Crimea. Russia then annexed the region and created two federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. Ukraine and the majority of the international community continue to regard Crimea as occupied Ukrainian territory; a United Nations General Assembly resolution declared the referendum invalid and affirmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Despite international opinion however, the currency, tax, time zone and legal system are all operational under de facto Russian control. Ukraine has attempted to resolve the matter by filing litigation in multiple international criminal, environmental, political, and other courts.
The Agreement on the Settlement of the Political Crisis in Ukraine was an agreement was to reduce bloodshed at Euromaidan demonstrations in Kyiv, which became significantly more violent during the Revolution of Dignity, resulting in the deaths of over 100 people. It also aimed to end the political crisis caused by Euromaidan, which began in November 2013 in response to Ukrainian authorities' decision to suspend the process of signing an association agreement with the European Union. It was signed on 21 February 2014 by the then-President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, and the leaders of Ukraine's parliamentary opposition through the mediation of the European Union and Russia.
The Republic of Crimea was the interim name of a polity on the Crimean peninsula between the dissolution of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1992 and the abolition of the Crimean Constitution by the Ukrainian Parliament in 1995. This period was one of conflict with the Ukrainian government over the levels of autonomy that Crimea enjoyed in relation to Ukraine and links between the ethnically Russian Crimea and the Russian Federation.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence the majority ethnic Russian Crimean peninsula was reorganized as the Republic of Crimea, after a 1991 referendum with the Crimean authorities pushing for more independence from Ukraine and closer links with Russia. In 1995 the Republic was forcibly abolished by Ukraine with the Autonomous Republic of Crimea established firmly under Ukrainian authority. There were also intermittent tensions with Russia over the Soviet Fleet, although a 1997 treaty partitioned the Soviet Black Sea Fleet allowing Russia to continue basing its fleet in Sevastopol with the lease extended in 2010. Following the impeachment of the relatively pro-Russia Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia invaded Crimea, overthrew the elected Autonomous government and claimed to annex it in 2014.
