Russia's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine exactly 11 years ago on March 18, 2014, was quick and bloodless, but it sent Moscow's relations with the West into a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War.
It also paved the way for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during which Moscow annexed more land from the war-torn country.
A look at the diamond-shaped peninsula in the Black Sea. coveted by both Russia and Ukraine for its naval bases and beaches:
Why is Crimea important?
Crimea's unique location makes it a strategically important asset, and Russia has spent centuries fighting for it.
Crimea was home to Turkic-speaking Tatars when the Russian empire first annexed it in the 18th century. It briefly regained independence as a Tatar republic two centuries later before being swallowed by the Soviet Union.
In 1944, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin deported nearly 200,000 Tatars, or about a third of Crimea's population, to Central Asia, 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) to the east. Stalin had accused them of collaborating with Nazi Germany — a claim widely dismissed by historians. An estimated half of them died in the next 18 months of hunger and harsh conditions.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred the peninsula from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, when both were part of the USSR, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the unification of Moscow and Kyiv. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, the peninsula became part of newly independent Ukraine.