Crimea and International Law : 'Self-Determination', 'Secession' and Russia's Position

Russia's annexation of Crimea in early 2014 dominated the headlines and caused heated debates among media outlets, politicians and international law practitioners. During these debates, many concepts of international law have been invoked, such us the peoples' right to self-determination or to secession (be it unilateral, consensual or even remedial), the legitimacy of referendums or the legality of Crimea's declaration of independence. Throughout this work, we will carefully analyse any of these notions (and many more) and every relevant source available, in order to finally apply the results to the Crimean crisis. In the end, we hope being able to answer the crucial question if Russia's annexation of Crimea was indeed a violation of international law or not.Master [120] en droit, Université catholique de Louvain, 201