Crimea: A Year Under Occupation

Over a year after Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula, signs of the new regime are visible. Some are benign: the ruble has replaced the hryvnia as the local currency; the majority of residents now carry Russian passports; the Russian flag hangs in the peninsula's capital, Simferopol. Other signs of Russia's takeover are more sinister: critics of the power-change are subject to unwarranted arrests; religious and ethnic minorities, such as the Crimean Tatars face persecution from local authorities; out of 2.4 million, some 20,000 people have left their homes and moved to Ukraine. No Western countries acknowledge Russia's annexation of Crimea. However, despite reports of human rights abuses, Crimea has fallen from international attention after pro-Russian separatist movements erupted in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions along Ukraine's eastern border with Russia. Hromadske traveled to Crimea undercover to film the situation as it is today. This documentary looks at life on the peninsula for those living under Russian rule.

// Video by Yuliia Stets, filmed in March, 2015

Text by Isobel Koshiw and Katherine Jacobsen