INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ASPECT OF THE OCCUPATION OF ARC AND THE CITY OF SEVASTOPOL PART 2 5 Crimea ‘On Militia – Vigilante Group of the Republic of Crimea’ dated June 6 11, 2014 (as amended on November 26, 2014 ), which led to organization of a paramilitary group that participated in seizure of the peninsula, seizure of property, kidnappings and murders, breaking up of peace rallies and impediment of journalists’ activities; • The Decree of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea ‘On Nationalization of the Property of Companies, Establishments, Organizations of the Agricultural Industry Located in the Territory of the Republic of Crimea’7 dated March 26, 2014 and the Law of the Republic of Crimea ‘On the Details of Property Repurchase 8 in the Republic of Crimea’ No. 47-ZRK, dated August 08, 2014. These acts are eT ectively used as smoke screen for hostile takeovers of the private property and the public property of Ukraine on the peninsula; • The Resolution of the VR of the ARC ‘On Combating Extremism in the Autonomous 9 Republic of Crimea’ dated March 11, 2014 and the Federal Law No. 91-FZ ‘On Application of Regulations of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation in the Territories of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol’ dated May 05, 2014. They prohibited the activities of such organizations as the all-Ukrainian Organization ‘Svoboda’, the Right Sector etc., and stated that the acts performed in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol before March 18, 2014 may be prosecuted according to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. They were followed by mass arrests, criminal prosecution of pro-Ukrainian activists and leaders of the Crimean Tatar community in the Crimea. These documents are unlawful; they contradict the laws of Ukraine and are based on illegal activities of certain individuals and the Russian Federation, such as estab- lishment of illegal bodies of executive power and local self-government authorities, execution of the treaty on accession of new constituent entities to the Russian Fed- eration etc. The actions of the Russian Federation resulted in the occupation of the territory of the Crimean peninsula. Based on the provisions of Article 2 of the 1949 Geneva 10 Conventions the status of the occupied territories is not aT ected by the fact that the occupation was not met with armed resistance. The occupation of Crimea indi- cates the presence of an international armed conU ict (regardless of the recognition 5 http://www.rg.ru/printable/2014/07/09/krim-zakon22-reg-dok.html 6 http://rk.gov.ru/rus/R le/pub/pub_238262.pdf 7 http://crimea.gov.ru/act/11841 8 http://www.rg.ru/2014/08/08/krim-proekt-vikup-reg-dok.html 9 http://crimea.gov.ru/ua/act/11742 10 http://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/geneva_civilian.shtml 19