Lithium fields in Ukraine are concentrated in Zaporizhzhia oblast (Kruta Balka area), Donetsk (Shevchenkivske field), and Kirovohrad (Polokhivske field, Dobra area). Photo: NASA, Public domain. Russia has designs on Ukraine's natural gas pipelines. The Alma flows west to reach the Black Sea between Yevpatoria and Sevastopol. Also Read:Russia-Ukraine war: Here's how the crisis unfolded -- a timeline. Furthermore, Russia has plans to extract and use Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar natural resources from Crimea and the Sea of Azov such as the Azov-Berezansky and Indolo-Kubnasky oil and gas fields. Southeast of Bakhchisarai is the cliff-fort of Chufut-Kale/Qirq Or which was used in more warlike times. The region contains oil and gas resources, key energy pipelines, shipping lanes, and fiber-optic cables. A look at the country's natural resources: Ukraine has the second-biggest known gas reserves in Europe, apart from Russia's gas reserves in Asia, although largely unexploited. It became a "health" destination for Soviet workers, and hundreds of thousands of Soviet tourists visited Crimea. Boeing, in a statement on January 31, said that the tensions over Ukraine create an "adverse climate" for its business. 1. While these colossal gas reserves remain unexploited, the country is still important for gas transport from Russia to Europe. Russian justification that this action was taken to protect Russian ethnicity, as declared . Notice that you also then claim the Azov Sea as a bonus, since you now have to pass through the economic zone to get there, exactly what Russia has done. Rich iron ore reserves located in the vicinity of Kryvyy Rih, Kremenchuk, Bilozerka, Mariupol, and Kerch form the basis of Ukraine's large iron-and-steel industry. In 2019, Russia and Ukraine inked a transit agreement that allows easy transfer of Siberian gas to the EU through Ukraine's huge gas transportation system, regardless of unilateral sanctions by the US. We should start receiving ten million tourists annually by 2025. The classical name was used in 1802 in the name of the Russian Taurida Governorate. 24 min read. under the crescent flag of Islam, began to be a place where Christians were persecuted. [67][68] The inland fields are located in Chornomorske and Dzhankoi, while offshore fields are located in the western coast in the Black Sea and in the northeastern coast in the Azov Sea:[69]. The length of line is about 90km and passengers are assigned a seat. Odessa stands where the coast turns southwest. The structure of hydrocarbons production in Ukraine is as follows: natural gas 89 percent, oil 7.9 percent, and gas condensate 3.1 percent. Over 50 years, the problems of water resources in Crimea were solved by using Dnieper water supplied through North-Crimean Canal; however, after the integration of Crimea into Russia, Ukraine suspended water supply. The U.S. and Europe have maintained sanctions against Russia since its initial invasion of Crimea . Taras Kuzio is a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, London, and Professor of Political Science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy. Some Greek myths state that this cape was supposedly crowned with the temple of Artemis where Iphigeneia officiated as priestess. The agreement lets coastal nations claim what are known as exclusive economic zones that can extend up to 200 nautical miles (or 230 statute miles) from their shores. That's why any instability in the region is bound to send shock waves through international energy markets: Crude-oil prices jumped by $2.33 a barrel on Monday (March 3), due in large part to jitters over the Russian aggression in Crimea, according to the Associated Press. [citation needed] [48] The Southern Coast is shielded from cold air masses coming from the north and, as a result, has milder winters. This bridge was damaged during an attack on October 8, 2022. Apart from natural gas, Ukraine abounds with minerals such as iron, coal, titanium, and other non-metallic raw materials. In the ongoing international showdown between Russia and Ukraine, the region known as Crimea has emerged as the top prize a position it has held, for better or worse, for millennia. Almost every settlement in Crimea is connected with another settlement by bus lines. He is the author of Russian Nationalism and the Russian-Ukrainian War (Routledge 2022) and joint editor of Ukraine's Outpost. In 2010, Russia negotiated an agreement that allows the country to share the all-important Sevastopol naval base through 2042, in exchange for deep discounts of about $40 billion on natural gas from Russia. Lets' take a look: Ukraine's breakaway territories in the Donbass region have abundant natural resources and, thus, make the area economically very feasible for the future. South of Sevastopol is the small Heracles Peninsula. The flow of holidaymakers dropped 35 percent in the first half of 2014 over the same period of 2013. [48] As a result, the climate favors recreation and tourism. If Russia. Some cities became trading colonies of Genoa, until conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The terrain that lies south of the sheltering Crimean Mountain range is of an altogether different character. This includes oil, coal, natural gas, metals, stone, sand, air, sunlight, soil, and water. [56] The number of tourist arrivals reached a record in 2012 at 6.1million. Much of the country's corn and wheat are destined for Africa and West Asia, which are heavily reliant on imports for food items. The southeast coast is flanked at a distance of 812 kilometres (5.07.5mi) from the sea by a parallel range of mountains: the Crimean Mountains. Points of Interest & Landmarks Churches & Cathedrals. [49], Most of the peninsula receives more than 2,000 sunshine hours per year; it reaches up to 2,505 sunshine hours in Qarabiy yayla in the Crimean Mountains. Ukrainian geologists note that Crimea is very rich in natural resources. From 1853 to 1856, the Crimean War roiled the area, as France, England and the Ottoman Empire fought the Russians for control of Crimea and the Black Sea. Iron ore reserves [49] In the central and mountainous areas the climate is transitional between the continental climate to the north and the Mediterranean climate to the south. Natural resources are being destroyed. The Crimean Premier League is now the top professional football league in Crimea. [48] Because a high-pressure system is located north of Crimea in both summer and winter, winds predominantly come from the north and northeast year-round. Alexander Pushkin visited Bakhchysarai in 1820 and later wrote the poem The Fountain of Bakhchisaray. ", "Russia-Ukraine Update: Crimea Attracts More Than 4 Million Tourists Despite Annexation", "What is the Crimea, and why does it matter? Across the Black Sea to the west lies Romania and to the south is Turkey. "The Crimea! Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). [48] Cool-season temperatures average around 7C (44.6F) and it is rare for the weather to drop below freezing except in the mountains, where there is usually snow. During the Russian Civil War, Crimea changed hands many times and was where Wrangel's anti-Bolshevik White Army made their last stand. [80], Following Russia's largely unrecognized annexation of Crimea, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and several other countries (including Ukraine) imposed economic sanctions against Russia, including some specifically targeting Crimea. Grain exports are the mainstay of Ukraine's economy. At the beginning of the 20th century, a major development of palaces, villas, and dachas beganmost of which remain. Such trading will bolster the DPR's revenues to continue fighting and increase Russia's access to natural resources at the expense of Ukraine's economic health and legitimate operations in the oil and gas sector (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 2021; Intelligence Fusion, 2021; AFP, 2020; Yermolenko and Panchenko, 2021). His freelance writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and TheWeek.com. The peninsula is connected to the Ukrainian mainland by the narrow Isthmus of Perekop. The population number excluding these uyezds is given in the table below. [120] Due to Russia currently being suspended from all international athletic competitions Rebrik participates in tournaments as a "neutral" athlete.[121]. Also important are the Kokozka (Kkkz or ), the Indole (Indol or ), the Chorna (orun, Chernaya or ), the Derekoika (Dereky or ),[37] the Karasu-Bashi (Biyuk-Karasu or -) (a tributary of the Salhyr river), the Burulcha () (also a tributary of the Salhyr), the Uchan-su, and the Ulu-Uzen'. Lands controlled by Russia[b] and Poland-Lithuania were often the target of slave raids during this period. [20] While it was replaced with Krym (Ukrainian: ; Russian: ) in the Soviet Union and has had no official status since 1921, it is still used by some institutions in Crimea, such as the Taurida National University, the Tavriya Simferopol football club, or the Tavrida federal highway. Karasu-Bazar/Bilohorsk was a commercial center. [49] A subtropical, Mediterranean climate dominates the southern coastal regions, is characterized by mild winters and moderately hot, dry summers. Ukraine loses half of its natural gas deposits due to occupation of Crimea. Many anti-Communist fighters and civilians escaped to Istanbul but up to 150,000 were killed in Crimea. Important industrial cities include Dzhankoi, housing a major railway connection, Krasnoperekopsk and Armiansk, among others. mineral resources - natural resources in the form of minerals. The development of Crimea as a holiday destination began in the second half of the 19th century. It has vast offshore oil and gas resources in the Black Sea, estimated between 4-13 trillion cm of natural gas. [7], The vine mealybug (Planococcus ficus) was first discovered here in 1868. For decades, a Soviet-era canal brought Crimea 85 percent of its freshwater from rivers on the Ukrainian mainland. Local trains belong to the Yuzhnaya Prigorodnaya Passazhirskaya Kompaniya (Southern Suburban Passenger Company), serving the entire network of the peninsula and via the Crimean Bridge three trains daily to Anapa. The country's geostrategic position has rendered it susceptible to the ongoing larger conflict between Russia and the West. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Crimean Tatars began to return to the region. Several times a week Simferopol is also linked with Volgograd, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Omsk and even Murmansk by train. For the strategy to work, the Crimean peninsula was of strategic importance. [71] This local electricity generation has proven insufficient for local consumption and since annexation by Russia, Crimea has been reliant on an underwater power cable to mainland Russia.[72]. As a buffer for the two conflicting blocs, Ukraine has had very difficult choices to make in the last decade. Crimea is a peninsula in Eastern Europe located on the Black Sea's northern coast and the Sea of Azov's western coast. Crimea's strategic position led to the 1854 Crimean War and many short lived regimes following the 1917 Russian Revolution. The majority of auto companies are looking at lithium reserves across the world. ", "About number and composition population of Autonomous Republic of Crimea by data All-Ukrainian population census", "About number and composition population of Ukraine by data All-Ukrainian Population Census 2001", The Deportation and Destruction of the German Minority in the USSR, On Germans Living on the Territory of the Ukrainian SSR, The Persecution of Pontic Greeks in the Soviet Union, "Public Opinion Survey Residents of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea", Russia seeks to crush Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Crimea for helping resist Russification, , , The Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate demanded the return of the Crimea, "Eurovision 2016: Ukraine's Jamala wins with politically charged 1944", "UEFA-backed league starts play in Crimea", "Ukrainian Sport Minister urges Federations not to let athletes switch to Russia without serving qualifying period", 14 Russians bid to take part in IAAF World Championships, Lists of Crimean Tartar villages emptied in the May 1944 deportations, and most of them renamed in Russian, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crimea&oldid=1142337575, Russian-speaking countries and territories, Articles containing Russian-language text, Articles containing Ukrainian-language text, Articles containing Crimean Tatar-language text, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference, Articles with Russian-language sources (ru), Wikipedia extended-confirmed-protected pages, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Turkish-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014, Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes from October 2022, All Wikipedia neutral point of view disputes, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2012, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2013, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Articles with sections that need to be turned into prose from March 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2014, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2015, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Articles with MusicBrainz area identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, (under construction) Tavrida highway (route Yevpatoria-) Sevastopol Simferopol (SW to W N to East ring) Bilohirsk, P59 (completely within the city of Sevastopol), This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 21:17. At the east end of the 90km (56mi) Kerch Peninsula is Kerch/Panticapaeum, once the capital of the Bosporian Kingdom. Simferopol, Yalta and Alushta also have an urban and suburban trolleybus network. Sources and Further Reference Sydnor, Charles S. "The Development of Southern Sectionalism 1819-1848." "Shortly before the occupation, agreements were . [50] In July mean temperatures range from 15.4C (59.7F) in Ai-Petri to 23.4C (74.1F) in the central parts of Crimea to 24.4C (75.9F) in Myskhor. [94] In 2013, however, the Crimean Tatar language was estimated to be on the brink of extinction, being taught in Crimea only in around 15 schools at that point. Could that be the US' pretext to compete with Russia? We simply do not know. Troop movements are also being conflated. The Prykerchenska zone holds about 321.2 bcm of gas and 126.8 million. It was colonized by the ancient Greeks beginning in the seventh century BCE along with other areas of the northern Black Sea coast. The main agricultural products of Crimea are cereals, vegetables, and wine. Oil shale reserves (3.7 billion tons) have been discovered at the border of the Kirovohrad and Cherkasy regions. Alushta Embankment. Though the United States, along with many other nations and the U.N., has refused to recognize the validity of Russia's annexation of Crimea, its control remains disputed between both Ukraine and the Russian Federation. [48] The northern parts of Crimea have a moderate continental climate with short but cold winters and moderately hot dry summers. Interestingly, China was the largest importer of Ukrainian titanium iron ores in 2021, with Russia on the second spot (15.3 per cent), and Turkey ranked third (14.5 per cent). [48] The frost-free period ranges from 160 to 200 days in the steppe and mountain regions to 240260 days on the south coast. Further southwest is Tyras/Akkerman/Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. The climate is a big reason why Russian leaders are so adamant about keeping Crimea within their sphere: The Black Sea is home to Russia's only warm-water ports. After the fall of the Soviet empire, Tatars began to return to their ancestral Crimean homeland, where they now number about 250,000 roughly 12 percent of the Crimean population. The Crimean Peninsula, located on the Black Sea, has been an important strategic area for thousands of years. Russia is looking for new ways to supplant its dwindling Siberian energy reserves. ", "Crimea opens the largest and most beautiful airport in Russia's south", "New terminal of Simferopol airport opened at Crimea", "Australia imposes sanctions on Russians after annexation of Crimea from Ukraine", "Japan imposes sanctions against Russia over Crimea independence", "EU sanctions add to Putin's Crimea headache", "Special Economic Measures (Ukraine) Regulations", "Australia and sanctions Consolidated List Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade", "Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with the Council Decision 2014/145/CFSPconcerning restrictive measures in respect of actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine", "Crimea hit by multiple sanctions as power, transport and banking communications are cut off", "Visa and MasterCard quit Crimea over US sanctions", "Sanctions trump patriotism for Russian banks in Crimea", "Kyiv vows to restore Ukrainian rule over Crimea to re-establish 'world law and order', "Results of Census: Population of Crimea is 2.284 Million People - Information agency "Krym Media", "Regions of Ukraine / Autonomous Republic of Crimea", "Census of the population is transferred to 2016", "Results / General results of the census / Linguistic composition of the population / Autonomous Republic of Crimea", administrative divisions of the Taurida Governorate, "The First General Census of the Russian Empire of 1897 Taurida Governorate", " Weekly . [92], According to the 2014 Russian census, 84% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their native language; 7.9% Crimean Tatar; 3.7% Tatar; and 3.3% Ukrainian. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. In 1944, Crimean Tatars were ethnically cleansed and deported under the orders of Joseph Stalin, in what has been described as a cultural genocide. The eastern tip of the Crimean peninsula comprises the Kerch Peninsula, separated from Taman Peninsula on the Russian mainland by the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, at a width of between 313 kilometres (1.98.1mi). With a length of 19km, it is the longest bridge in Europe, as it overcame Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon. . But propaganda aside, perhaps the answer is more simple: oil and gas. [59], The most important industries in Crimea include food production, chemical fields, mechanical engineering, and metalworking, and fuel production industries. Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. Over 50 per cent of Ukraine's annual corn and wheat shipments head to Africa or the Middle East. Everything else is the ruins of an ancient city. Greeks colonized its southern fringe and were absorbed by the Roman and Byzantine Empires and successor states while remaining culturally Greek. Cattle, poultry and sheep breeding are also important and Crimea is home to a variety of natural resources like salt, porphyry, limestone, and ironstone. 1. natural resources - resources (actual and potential) supplied by nature. St. Vladimir's Cathedral, dedicated to the Heroes of Sevastopol (Crimean War). Covering an area of 27,000km2 (10,425sqmi), Crimea is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea and on the western coast of the Sea of Azov; the only land border is shared with Ukraine's Kherson Oblast on the north. 23. In the medieval period, it was partially conquered by Kievan Rus' whose prince was baptized at Sevastopol starting the Christianization of Kievan Rus'. [48] It is characterized by diversity and the presence of microclimates. When the Bolsheviks secured Crimea, it became an autonomous soviet republic within Russia. [citation needed] However, there are no major international banks in the Crimea. The, Ab al-Fid, Mukhtaar trkh al-bashar (, Slater, Eric. [87][88] The Russian national payment card system now allows Visa and MasterCard cards issued by Russian banks to work in Crimea. 22. Further east still is Theodosia/Kaffa/Feodosia, once a great slave-mart and a kind of capital for the Genoese and Turks. Hello dear TA members, Golytsin trail ( path) is 4.5 km nature walk along the shoreline of the black sea in Novy Svet. Putin has also spoken of Crimea's historic links to Russia and Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The main range of these mountains rises with extraordinary abruptness from the deep floor of the Black Sea to an altitude of 6001,545 metres (1,9695,069ft), beginning at the southwest point of the peninsula, called Cape Fiolent. There are more than 2,500 peat deposits (2.2 billion tons). There are a total of 291 large industrial enterprises and 1002 small business enterprises. Exports, including the above, account. UEFA ruled that Crimean clubs could not join the Russian leagues but should instead be part of a Crimean league system. [48] The Crimean mountains greatly influence the amount of precipitation present in the peninsula. One of the best places to visit in Crimea - but I have many others on the web also, such as Sudak, Chufut-Kale. Crimea is surrounded almost completely by the Black Sea, and encompasses an area of about 10,000square miles (26,000 square kilometers), roughly the size of the state of Maryland. However, Gazprom's Nord Stream II pipeline which goes through the Baltic Sea might have hit a major roadblock with the Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. A look at the country's natural resources: Oil and Gas Ukraine has the second-biggest known gas reserves in Europe, apart from Russia's gas reserves in Asia, although largely unexploited. After Ukrainian independence in 1991, the central government and Crimea clashed, with the region being granted more autonomy. In 2021, India imported coal to meet its domestic coal shortage and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that supply chain is going to get impacted. The text proclaims the Republic of Crimea is a democratic, legal state within the Russian Federation and an equal subject of the Russian Federation. Crimea is located between the temperate and subtropical climate belts and is characterized by warm and sunny weather. The country gets 55 per cent of its natural gas from Russia, and the bulk of it goes through Ukraine, which earns a transit fee equivalent to $7 billion. [115] Notwithstanding the annexation, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) kept control of its eparchies in Crimea.[116]. These substances are used in numerous fields of activity, and their importance is especially great in the construction industry. The omission of the definite article in English ("Crimea" rather than "the Crimea") became common during the later 20th century. [57] According to the Russian administration of Crimea, they dropped to 3.8million in 2014,[58] and rebounded to 5.6million by 2016. The source of power in the Crimean Republic is its people, which constitutes to the multinational nation of the Russian Federation. (More than 50 percent of the Crimean economy is devoted to food production and distribution industries, according to Ukrainian government figures.). NY 10036. [In Photos: Amazing Ruins of the Ancient World]. The cities of Yalta, Feodosia, Kerch, Sevastopol, Chornomorske and Yevpatoria are connected to one another by sea routes. For Russia, the Black Sea is of particular importance for economic and geostrategic reasons. Meanwhile, owing to distance, US wheat amounts to less than 10 per cent of what caters to those regions. Copyright2023 Living Media India Limited. Lithium chemicals are the main component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. What Putin neglected to mention is that Crimea is rich in natural resources like oil and gas. Besides the Crimean Germans, Stalin in 1944 also deported 70,000 Greeks, 14,000 Bulgarians[113] and 3,000 Italians. However, ironically enough, Ukraine depends on gas imports and it is primarily because the USSR began extracting gas on a large scale in Siberia in the 1970s. When did Democrats and Republicans switch platforms? Among the many natural resources can be identified the main minerals of Crimea in short: Fossils of sedimentary origin; Fossils of volcanic origin; Fossils of marine origin. Primarily Muslim, the Tatars of Crimea were instrumental in making the peninsula one of the centers of Islamic culture. There also is the gas thermal Saky plant located close to Jodobrom chemical plant and SaKhZ(SaChP) boosted production with Perm GTE GTU25P (PS90GP25 25 MW aeroderivative GP) PGU turbogenerators. The USSR transferred Crimea to Ukraine on the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Treaty in 1954. Ukraine's economy, resources and the clash to lay claim to the country's bountiful rare earth elements are also the motives to influence its political leanings - Russia or Europe? This is the main knowledge gap that this article addresses. During World War II, Crimea was downgraded to an oblast. most of Ukraine consists of fertile plains (steppes) and plateaus, mountains being found only in the west (the Carpathians), and in the Crimean Peninsula in the extreme south Natural Resources: iron ore, coal, manganese, natural gas, oil, salt, sulfur, graphite, titanium, magnesium, kaolin, nickel, mercury, timber, arable land Natural Hazards: NA [93], According to the 2001 census, 77% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their native language; 11.4% Crimean Tatar; and 10.1% Ukrainian. All are natural resources that play critical roles in the clean energy technology essential to the shift away from fossil fuels that scientists say is necessary to ward off the worst consequences . [36] The largest rivers are the Salhyr (Salr, ), the Kacha (), the Alma (), and the Belbek (). If you're looking for a time when the geopolitical scene in Crimea was stable, you won't have much luck. In the city of Yevpatoria a tram system is also operated. . [54], In 2016 Crimea had Nominal GDP of US$7 billion and US$3,000 per capita.[55]. It comprises the main peninsula and a smaller peninsula known as the Kerch Peninsula. Sea of Azov: There is little on the south shore. Due to the temporary occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Ukraine has lost the opportunity to exploit the Scythian section of the Black Sea shelf, where gas production was to begin in 2017. [60], In 2014, the republic's annual GDP was $4.3billion (500 times smaller than the size of Russia's economy). Industrial plants are situated for the most part in the southern coast (Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Feodosia, Kerch) regions of the republic, few northern (Armiansk, Krasnoperekopsk, Dzhankoi), aside from the central area, mainly Simferopol okrug and eastern region in Nizhnegorsk (few plants, same for Dzhankoj) city. The North Crimean Canal now crosses it to bring water from the Dnieper. "If there is a conflict, as the minority, we will be the first to suffer," Usein Sarano, a Crimean Tatar, told Reuters. For obvious reasons, the Crimean Tatars take a dim view of renewed Russian incursions into their homeland, and are likely to put up some resistance. Luke Coffey. The answer lies in Crimea's unique climate, diverse culture, geography and often-troubled history. For reprint rights: Syndications Today. [48], Precipitation in Crimea varies significantly based on location; it ranges from 310 millimetres (12.2in) in Chornomorske to 1,220 millimetres (48.0in) at the highest altitudes in the Crimean mountains. New York, But these numbers included Berdyansky, Dneprovsky and Melitopolsky uyezds which were on mainland, not in Crimea. The classical name for Crimea, Tauris or Taurica, is from the Greek (Taurik), after the peninsula's Scytho-Cimmerian inhabitants, the Tauri. This "riviera" stretches along the southeast coast from capes Fiolent and Aya, in the south, to Feodosia. Posted by: Manali, Feb 25, 2022, 1:00 PM IST. In the 15th century, the Khanate became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. His desire is reflected by the Russian military's continued encroachment into eastern Ukraine for the past several years. Putin's priority was this substantive population as Russia is the largest nation in the world and has large natural resources. The Black Sea serves as an economic thoroughfare connecting the Caucasus region and the Caspian Sea to central and Eastern Europe. [117], Crimean Tatar singer Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 representing Ukraine with her song "1944", about the historic deportation of Crimean Tatars in that year by Soviet authorities. [89], Crimea is Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russia; Ukraine has not relinquished title over the Crimean territory since the events of 2014, Crimea is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. Road- and rail-bridges cross the northern part of Syvash. [The 10 Epic Battles That Changed History]. They were also known as slave traders who raided lands as far north as modern-day Poland.