Medal "For the Return of Crimea"

The medal can also be awarded to other citizens of the Russian Federation and to foreign citizens for assistance in solving the tasks assigned to the Russian Armed Forces relating to these security measures taken in Crimea.

• Name — Medal "For the Return of Crimea" • Type — Campaign medal • Awarded For — Service in Crimea during the 2014 Russian annexation • Country — Russia • Presenter — Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation • Campaign — Russo-Ukrainian War • Established — 21 March 2014 • Firstawarded — 24 March 2014 • Higher — Medal "For Labour Valour" (Ministry of Defence) • Lower — Medal "Mikhail Kalashnikov" • Caption2 — Ribbon of the medal

• Illustration — Reverse of the medal Analysis of the Russian public tenders register "Kontur" performed by journalists in 2017 indicated that the tender for manufacturing the medal was announced on 17 December 2013, a few weeks after start of Euromaidan and months before the official start of "return of Crimea" as claimed by Russia. After this publication, all details of the order were hidden on the "Kontur" website. On the reverse of the medal, the term of the "return of Crimea" campaign is indicated as "20 February 2014 – 18 March 2014". The start date of the "return of Crimea" operation appears 20 February when Viktor Yanukovych was still in office as Ukraine's head of state. In fact, only the next day President Yanukovych left Kyiv, and it was already 22 February 2014 when the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Resolution "On the dissociation of the President of Ukraine from fulfillment of constitutional powers and appointment of early presidential elections in Ukraine", used by Russia as a pretext for accusations of the alleged "unconstitutional coup in Ukraine". The fact that Crimea started its "return" to Russia two days before Yanukovych's removal from power and his resignation from the post of the President of Ukraine can be considered as an indirect proof that Russia launched its operation to seize the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine on 20 February 2014. Inquired about the 20 February date, Sergey Lavrov replied in 2018 that it was a "technical mistake".