Description:

VLADIMIR PUTIN (b. 1952) Russian politician who has served as the president of Russia since 2012, previously holding the position from 2000 until 2008. He was also the Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012. Putin worked as a KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, before resigning in 1991 to begin a political career in Saint Petersburg. He later moved to Moscow in 1996 to join the administration of President Boris Yeltsin, serving first as Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB's successor agency, before being appointed as prime minister in August 1999. After the resignation of Yeltsin, Putin was elected to succeed him. A historic modern Russian document with repercussions still affecting the world today, Vladimir Putin's executive order creating the Ministry of Crimean Affairs and integrating the economic, financial, credit and legal systems of the Crimea with that of the Russian Federation. Putin essentially inextricably merges Crimea's economy and courts with those of Russia, making any future return of Crimea to Ukraine nearly impossible. The document, 2pp. 4to., was signed at "Moscow, Kremlin" on March 31, 2014 -- less than two weeks after the "Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Crimea" was adopted by a joint resolution, on March 11, 2014 by the Supreme Council of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council where they expressed their intention to join Russia. This most important document reads, in part: "...ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION On the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Crimean Affairs In order to increase the effectiveness of the federal executive authorities in the integration of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, the economic, financial, credit and legal systems of the Russian Federation establish: 1. To establish the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Crimean Affairs 2. To establish that the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Crimean Affairs is developing draft state programs for the development of Crimea, coordinates the activities for the implementation of these programs, and controls the implementation by the state authorities of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol of the powers of the Russian Federation transferred to them...3. To add to the structure of federal executive bodies approved by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 2012 [a long list of articles follows]...approve the title Ministry of the Russian Agency of the Federation for Crimean Affairs...establish the maximum staffing level of the Ministry...and its territorial bodies...5. This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its signing..." Neatly signed in blue ink. The document is presented in its original 9 x 12.25 burgundy leather portfolio with gold Russian eagle emblem applied to the front cover. Both in very fine condition. Russia's seizure of Crimea using Russian troops in unmarked uniforms shocked the world. The international community condemned the Crimean referendum as undemocratic and illegal. Four days before Putin signed this decree, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the "Territorial Integrity of Ukraine" Resolution, which recognized the referendum as part of the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. One hundred nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, voted in favor of the resolution. Severe sanctions were placed on Russia and many of Putin's associates, all of which remain in effect today. This document was deaccessed from Russian files following its digitization. Nearly identical documents have appeared on the market, at least one with James Spence certification.

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April 1, 2020 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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