Head of the Republic of Crimea

Head of the Republic of Crimea
Глава Республики Крым (Russian) Глава Республіки Крим (Ukrainian) Къырым Джумхурийетининъ Къафа (Crimean Tatar)
Coat of arms of Crimea
Incumbent Sergey Aksyonov since 9 October 2014 [lower-alpha 1]
Executive branch of the Republic of Crimea
Style	His Excellency The Honorable
Type	Governor Head of state Head of government
Residence	Simferopol
Nominator	President of the Russian Federation
Appointer	State Council
Term length	Five years, no more than two consecutive terms
Precursor	President of Crimea
Formation	9 October 2014
First holder	Sergey Aksyonov
Website	Official website

The Head of the Republic of Crimea is the highest official and the head of the executive power of the Republic of Crimea; an internationally disputed federal subject of the Russian Federation located on the Crimean Peninsula. ^[1]

Crimean Head's policy is to ensure compliance with the Constitution and federal laws and the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Crimea, as well as the equality of nations and the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, and the preservation of the coordinated functioning of state bodies of the Republic. Person under 30 cannot be a head of the Republic.

Term of office is five years. Appointed by the State Council of the Republic on nomination of President of the Russian Federation. Interim Head of the Republic is appointed directly by President.

The current Head of the Republic Sergey Aksyonov was elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2019.

History

See also: History of Crimea and Republic of Crimea (Russia) § History

Background

See also: New Russia, Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and 1954 transfer of Crimea

The Crimean Peninsula, historically part of Imperial Russia and later an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, was ceded in 1954 to Ukraine, which administered it until its annexation by Russia in 2014.

Ukrainian President of Crimea

Main article: President of Crimea

See also: 1992 Crimean constitution and 1994 Crimean presidential election

Under Ukrainian rule, an equivalent post, named President of the Republic of Crimea (Russian : Президент Республики Крым, romanized: Prezident Respubliki Krym), was provided by the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Crimea (de facto a special statute), with jurisdiction over the autonomous city of Sevastopol too. ^[2] The first presidential elections took place in 1994, won by the pro-Russian separatist Yuriy Meshkov (leader of a coalition named "Russia"), but on 17 March 1995 the Ukrainian parliament, as part of a wider process of reduction of the Crimean autonomy, abolished both the statute and the post of President of Crimea. ^[2]

From Ukraine to the Russian Federation

See also: Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and Constitution of the Republic of Crimea

In the immediate aftermath of the revolution of Dignity, on 27 February 2014, Russian special forces without insignia ^[3] stormed the Crimean parliament. A few hours later, pro-Russian deputy Sergey Aksyonov came into the parliament, and asked some of the other deputies to come as well. After the deputies summoned by Aksyonov were let in by the Russian soldiers guarding the parliament building, two votes were held. The first one appointed Aksyonov as the new Prime Minister of Crimea, and the second called for a referendum on Crimea's secession from Ukraine. The results for both of these votes were unanimous. ^[4] One week later, Aksyonov and other deputies held another vote, resulting in an appeal for Russia to annex Crimea. ^[5]

On March 16, a referendum on Crimea's status was held, with the results being overwhelmingly in favor of joining Russia. The next day, 17 March 2014, Crimea's newly installed authorities declared independence and requested to join Russia. ^{[6] [7]} On the same day, Russia recognized the Republic of Crimea as a sovereign state. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

Left to right: Aksyonov, Konstantinov, Putin and Chaly, signing the Treaty on Accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia

On March 18, the Crimean authorities signed the accession treaty to the Russian Federation, thus forming the Crimean Federal District, subsequently merged into the Southern Federal District. ^{[11] [12]}

On April 11, the State Council of the Republic of Crimea consequently ratified a new constitution, providing for the post of Head of the Republic of Crimea, effective from April 14 of the same year. ^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Eligibility and authorities

Under article 62 of the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea, approved by the State Council on 11 April 2014 and entered into force the following day, any Russian citizen who has reached the age of thirty can take up the post, provided that he has not been subjected to restrictions on civil and political rights.

Formally a head of state, the head of the republic is actually a governor, subordinate to the president of the Russian Federation; he oversees the executive, and has the right to legislative initiative in the State Council, which he can also convene exceptionally.

Furthermore, under articles 61–65 of the Constitution, he:

• appoints and dismisses, with the consent of the State Council, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, without prejudice to the possibility of simultaneously holding both posts, as well as the ministers and other senior officials of the Republic;
• represents the Republic of Crimea in relations with the central government and other local authorities of the Russian Federation, as well as with foreign economic representatives; and signs treaties in the name of the Republic;
• signs and promulgates the laws of the Republic of Crimea; and adopts presidential decrees.

Presidential appointed officials

• Prosecutor General: Natalia Poklonskaya, appointed by Sergey Aksyonov on 11 March 2014 ^{[lower-alpha 1]} (although the right of appointment has passed to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, her mandate was confirmed ad interim on March 25 and definitively on 2 May 2014 by Yury Chaika, ending on 6 October 2016);
• Representative to the Federation Council: Olga Kovitidi, appointed by Sergey Aksyonov on 15 April 2014;
• Prime Minister: Yury Gotsanyuk, appointed by Sergey Aksyonov on 20 September 2019.

• 
  Natalia Vladimirovna Poklonskaya
• 
  Olga Fyodorovna Kovitidi
• 
  Yury Mikhailovich Gotsanyuk

List

No.	Portrait	Name	Political party		Election	Term of office			Prime minister(s)	Ref.
						Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Sergey Aksyonov (1972-11-26) November 26, 1972 (age 51)		United Russia	— [lower-alpha 2]	14 April 2014 [lower-alpha 1]	9 October 2014	178 days	Himself
					2014	9 October 2014	19 September 2019	4 years, 345 days
					2019	20 September 2019	Incumbent	5 years, 24 days	Yury Gotsanyuk

Elections

2014

Three candidates were nominated for the election: ^[13]

• Sergey Aksyonov, interim Head of the Republic;
• Gennady Naraev, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Crimea;
• Alexander Terentyev, Deputy of the State Duma.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Sergey Aksyonov	United Russia	75	100
	Gennady Narayev	United Russia	0	0
	Alexander Terentyev	A Just Russia	0	0
Total			75	100
Source:ТАСС

2019

2019 inauguration of Aksyonov

Three candidates were nominated for the election: ^[14]

• Sergey Aksyonov, incumbent Head of the Republic;
• Pavel Shperov, Deputy of the State Duma;
• Sergey Bogatyrenko, Deputy of the State Council of Crimea.

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Sergey Aksyonov	United Russia	74	98.7
	Pavel Shperov	Liberal Democratic Party	0	0
	Sergey Bogatyrenko	Communist Party	0	0
Total			75	100
Source:ТАСС

Notes

1. The transition from the Ukrainian to the Russian administration lasted a week, from 11 to 18 March 2014. In those days, although formally it was still part of Ukraine, the Crimean government already legislated autonomously, with acts recognized by the Russian Federation, but not Ukraine. Sergey Aksyonov, the last president of the Ukrainian Council of Ministers of Crimea, continued to exercise his role as interim head of government until April 14, and then governed as interim head of state until the elections held on 9 October 2014, in which his mandate was confirmed.
2. Appointed by the President of the Russian Federation as interim Head of Republic.

References

1. "Crimea profile". BBC News . 17 January 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
2. Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia 2004 (4th ed.). Taylor & Francis Group. 2003. p. 540. ISBN   978-1-85743-187-2 . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
3. Weaver, Courtney (15 March 2015). "Putin was ready to put nuclear weapons on alert in Crimea crisis" . Financial Times . Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
4. Simon Shuster (10 March 2014). "Putin's Man in Crimea Is Ukraine's Worst Nightmare". Time. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
5. De Carbonnel, Alissa (13 March 2014). "RPT-INSIGHT-How the separatists delivered Crimea to Moscow". Reuters . Retrieved 8 March 2015. Only a week after gunmen planted the Russian flag on the local parliament, Aksyonov and his allies held another vote and declared parliament was appealing to Putin to annex Crimea
6. Ilya Somin (6 May 2014). "Russian government agency reveals fraudulent nature of the Crimean referendum results". The Washington Post.
7. "Crimean parliament formally applies to join Russia". BBC. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
8. "Executive Order on recognising Republic of Crimea". en.kremlin.ru. 17 March 2014. Archived from the original on 8 May 2015. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
9. "U.S., EU set sanctions as Putin recognizes Crimea "sovereignty"". Reuters. 17 March 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
10. "Putin Recognizes Crimea Secession, Defying the West". The New York Times. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
11. "В России создан Крымский федеральный округ" (in Russian). RBC. 21 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
12. "Putin integrates Crimea into Russia's southern federal district". Russian News Agency TASS. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
13. "Путин внес три кандидатуры на пост главы Республики Крым" (in Russian). 17 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
14. "Выборы главы Крыма пройдут 20 сентября" (in Russian). 13 September 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2021.

External links

• "Russian Administrative divisions" . Retrieved 11 September 2021.
• 2014 Constitution of the Republic of Crimea (in Russian)
• "1999 Federal Law "On common principles of organisation of legislative (representative) and executive bodies of federal subjects of the Russian Federation"" (in Russian). Retrieved 11 September 2021.