--- title: The Crimea referendum of 16 March 2014:a two-option ballot, a tricolour campaign and a counting infographic url: https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/crimea-referendum-campaign-2014/ description: The referendum on Crimea's status was called by Crimea's Supreme Council on 6 March 2014 with a ballot that offered two options. section: Case studies --- ![Illustration: a dossier collage of a vintage television wall broadcasting archival news footage, surrounded by press clippings and film reels.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/hero-watch-briefs.jpg) Case studies # The Crimea referendum of 16 March 2014:a two-option ballot, a tricolour campaign and a counting infographic 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Case studies](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/) 3. The Crimea referendum of 16 March 2014: a two-option ballot - **When:** March 16, 2014 - **Actor:** Supreme Council of Crimea and Sevastopol city council (referendum), a pro-referendum campaign in Crimea, the Russian government, and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office - **Target:** Voters in Crimea, and foreign governments and publics after the vote - **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are - **Confidence:** **documented** Primary documents, court records, official disclosures - **Techniques:** [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [False dilemma](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/false-dilemma/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/) On this page **In one line:** The referendum on Crimea's status was called by Crimea's Supreme Council on 6 March 2014 with a ballot that offered two options, joining Russia or restoring the 1992 constitution, and the record around it contains three items on three sides: the ballot, a campaign billboard in the colours of the Russian flag, and a British infographic that counted states instead of arguing the merits. ## What happened - **6 March 2014.** The Supreme Council of Crimea passes the resolution "On holding an all-Crimean referendum". Its annex is a sample ballot in Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. The two options are joining Russia as a federal subject, or restoring the 1992 Crimean constitution and Crimea's status as part of Ukraine. A ballot with neither or both marked is invalid. The arrangement then in force was the 1998 constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraine; neither option kept it, and there was no way to vote for neither (the ballot). - **Before 16 March.** Roadside billboards in Simferopol carry the headline "Together with Russia" in blue on white, a red-outlined check-box and a red band reading "16 March: Referendum!". The colours repeat the Russian tricolour, with the check mark beside the one option named ([the billboards](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/vmeste-s-rossiei-simferopol-2014.jpg)). - **15 March 2014.** A Security Council draft resolution on the referendum gets 13 votes in favour; Russia vetoes and China abstains (FCO infographic, citing the vote). - **16 March 2014.** The referendum is held. The Crimean authorities report a large majority for joining Russia. - **21 March 2014.** President Putin signs the laws completing Crimea's accession to Russia. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office publishes "#RussiaIsolated" on the same day ([the infographic](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/russia-isolated-fco-infographic-2014.jpg)). - **27 March 2014.** The UN General Assembly adopts resolution 68/262 affirming Ukraine's territorial integrity and declaring the referendum without validity; Russia and the states that voted against reject it. - **17 April 2014.** Asked on a televised call-in, President Putin says Russian servicemen stood behind Crimea's self-defence units, after earlier statements that the armed men were local volunteers. ## How it works - [False dilemma](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/false-dilemma/) and [card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/): the choice set left out the status then in force. The entry scores the ballot for what it offered, not for how anyone voted. - [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/): national colours and the voting mark are attached to a single answer on the billboards. - [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/) and card stacking on the other side: the FCO infographic tallies one country recognising the result against 56 states on an OSCE decision, 31 sanctioning states and a 13 to 1 Security Council vote. Numbers of states stand in for the merits, and states that abstained or took no side are not counted. ## Positions on the record - **Crimean and Russian authorities.** The referendum expressed the will of the residents of Crimea and the accession followed from it. - **Ukraine and the UN General Assembly majority.** The referendum was held under military presence, contrary to the Ukrainian constitution, and did not change Crimea's status. - **What is documented.** The ballot text, the dates above, the Security Council vote, resolution 68/262 and the Putin statement of 17 April 2014. - **Not ruled on here.** The legal merits. The page scores the three items as messages. ## Same-method test The test is whether a choice set or a tally was built to produce one reading. It applies to the ballot, to the billboards and to the British infographic on the same definitions. They differ in kind: a ballot that decided a territory's status, a campaign sign, and a ministry's counting graphic. The page does not treat them as equivalent. ## How to spot it - Read the options on a ballot and ask which arrangement they leave out. - Notice when national colours sit beside one answer. - When a graphic counts states, ask who is not counted. ## Sources - Catalogue entries: sample ballot (Supreme Council of Crimea, rada.crimea.ua), Simferopol billboards, #RussiaIsolated. - UN General Assembly resolution 68/262, 27 March 2014. - Direct line with Vladimir Putin, 17 April 2014, transcript on kremlin.ru. ## Related guides and pages - [Ukraine war propaganda from Crimea in 2014 to 2023](https://propagandaarchive.org/ukraine-war-propaganda/) - [Russian propaganda from the Empire to the present](https://propagandaarchive.org/russian-propaganda/) - [Fake news: what it means, where it came from, documented cases](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/fake-news/) - [Disinformation: origin of the word and documented cases](https://propagandaarchive.org/types-of-propaganda/disinformation/) - [Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/putin-government/) - ['Russian warship, go f*** yourself': how a radio exchange on Snake Island became a billboard and a stamp (2022)](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/snake-island-russian-warship-2022/) - [EUvsDisinfo and the EEAS East StratCom Task Force](https://propagandaarchive.org/case-studies/euvsdisinfo-east-stratcom/) - [Firehosing](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/firehosing/) - [Whataboutism](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/whataboutism/)