De-occupation or (de)colonization? Challenges for Crimea’s future

ABSTRACT This essay focuses on the problem of the decolonization of Crimea within the context of the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war. Both authors agree that the decolonization of Crimea involves a complex intellectual challenge for Ukrainian society and for the rest of the world. For centuries Crimea was a settler colony of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. In 2014, Russia resumed its settler-colonial project by means of discrimination against the indigenous Crimean Tatar people, persecution of political prisoners, and mass resettlement of Russian citizens to the occupied territory. Since 2014, Ukraine has rediscovered Crimea and Crimean Tatars. While the general perception of Crimean Tatars has become more positive within Ukrainian society, there is still no agreement on the future of the de-occupied peninsula. While Ukrainian society generally agrees that Crimea should be an integral part of Ukraine, some of the views about Crimea’s future are rooted in the narratives produced by colonizers for the purposes of colonization. This essay shows that military de-occupation does not equal decolonization and that some complicated questions remain unanswered.