The Republic of Crimea is a republic of Russia, comprising most of the Crimean Peninsula, but excluding Sevastopol. Its territory corresponds to the pre-2023 territory of Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a subdivision of Ukraine. Russia occupied and annexed the peninsula in 2014, although the annexation remains internationally unrecognized.
Simferopol, Crimea, 9 May 2019, the celebration of the Victory Day
Natalia Poklonskaya, Prosecutor of the Republic of Crimea, March 2015
Catholic church in Yevpatoria
A Sunni mosque in Yevpatoria
The republics are one type of federal subject of the Russian Federation.
21 republics are internationally recognized as part of Russia; another is under its de facto control. The original republics were created as nation states for ethnic minorities. The indigenous ethnicity that gives its name to the republic is called the titular nationality. However, due to centuries of Russian migration, a titular nationality may not be a majority of its republic's population.
Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on the incorporation of Tuva into the Soviet Union as an autonomous oblast, 11 October 1944. Tuva would not become an ASSR until 1961.
Republics of the Soviet Union in 1954–1991
A Chechen fighter near the burned-out presidential palace during the battle of Grozny, January 1995. The building became a symbol of resistance for the supporters of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
Vladimir Putin with local people in the Siberian republic of Tuva, 2007
