![Russia's seizure of Crimea was denounced as illegal by most of the world and has sent Moscow's relations with the West plummeting to post-Cold War lows in the years since [Presidential Press Service Handout/EPA-EFE]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/h_57129748.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges international forum to back Kyiv in its bid to overturn 2014 seizure of Black Sea peninsula.
Crimea
![Russia deployed about 20 warplanes, as well as S-400 and Pantsir surface-to-air missile systems in the tests [File: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/h_56362149.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
Day after NATO and Ukraine began Black Sea exercises, Moscow says it has tested Crimean air defence systems.
![Incidents involving aircraft or ships are not uncommon at Russia’s borders, especially during heightened tensions with the West, but rarely result in open fire [File: Sergey Smolentsev/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-23T140423Z_1019290426_RC203O9QRJQI_RTRMADP_3_RUSSIA-BRITAIN-NAVY.jpg?resize=570%2C380)
London dismisses Moscow’s version of events as ‘predictably inaccurate’, while Russia summons UK ambassador.
![Russian jet fighters fly over a bridge connecting Russia with Crimea with a cargo ship blocking passage [File: Pavel Rebrov/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/cca5bdb6faf844599c7d2b66bcf779ad_18.jpeg?resize=570%2C380)
Ukraine and the EU condemn Russia’s decision to restrict the navigation of foreign military and official ships.
![A joint declaration condemning ongoing instability in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions was issued by European members of the Security Council, as well as Germany, which along with France co-sponsored the Minsk accords between Moscow and Kyiv [File: Stringer/AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/000_1U05GY.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
US diplomat leads charge in pressing Moscow to ‘immediately cease its aggression’ in eastern Ukraine, Crimea occupation.
![Ukrainian Army service members ride with Javelin anti-tank missiles during a parade marking Ukraine's Independence Day in Kyiv in 2018 [File: Gleb Garanich/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/519ac2417a5a4d76acfdda4adbe55e0b_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The US has been one of Kyiv’s strongest supporters since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014
The Russian president has opened a direct train link between Russia and the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
![Russia sent troops into Crimea and annexed the peninsula in 2014 [File: AFP]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/91f4d124c9e342658538012fef654453_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
General Assembly urges withdrawal of Russian military forces from occupied Ukrainian peninsula ‘without delay’.
![Sentsov served five years of a 20-year sentence that was widely considered to be politically motivated [Jean-Francois Badias/AP Photo]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/0c818c464d574105b46b4c8459240d02_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Oleg Sentsov’s case has drawn international attention to plight of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.
![In this file photo from February 2019, judges are seen at the International Court of Justice [File: Eva Plevier/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/1d111c52b49e45f38c746cba59efe880_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
ICJ rejects Moscow’s bid to block case brought by Ukraine accusing Russia of supporting pro-Russian separatist rebels.
![Officials said Sentsov had intended to carry out attacks against Russia's troops in Crimea [File: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/f8866bc1e1664028a3982b5f57d24796_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Oleg Sentsov has been brought to prison in capital, reports say, hinting at imminent Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchange.
![The result is the culmination of a stunning turnaround in Ukrainian politics [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/5fa7d66ee0694ddfa83c4b1ae4e802ab_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Partial results show comic-turned-president’s party is on course for absolute majority in Ukraine’s parliament.
![Painter Anna Abramova used to live in Donetsk but was displaced because of the war. In Mariupol, she struggles to make a living as a website designer [Mansur Mirovalev/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/8a42c7c301ec4878806b6cff16c9b602_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Mariupol is Ukraine’s principal port on the Sea of Azov and has great economic and strategic significance.
A look at the motivations behind Russia’s foreign policy explained by the people who help shape the Kremlin’s ideology.