As the political and social tensions in Ukraine grew stronger in February 2014, pro-Russian political and other such organizations and associations supported by the Russian Federation (RF) stepped up the anti-Ukrainian activities aimed at escalating the situation and further destabilization, especially in the southeastern regions of Ukraine, the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. On 02/03/2014, pro-Russian rallies were held on the territory of the autonomy, during which the organizers and politicians made public calls for a violent change in the constitutional order and for the seizure of state power in Crimea. On the same day, Gennady Basov, the leader of the Russian Bloc party, announced the creation of the so-called self-defense units, ostensibly comprised of volunteers. These units, known as the self-defense of Crimea, together with regular servicemen of the Russian Federation (both those already deployed on the basis of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in accordance with bilateral treaties between Ukraine and the RF and those who illegally arrived from the RF), contributed to the seizure of administrative buildings of Ukraine, as well as the seizure and blocking of the Ukrainian military bases, not to mention the organization and conduct of the illegal referendum on the self-determination of Crimea, which was subsequently publicly approved by the top leaders of Russia, including the President of the RF. All these violent and aggressive actions of the RF had their effect as Ukraine lost effective control over the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol because of their occupation by the Armed Forces of the RF. On 03/16/2014, in breach of Article 5, Article 72 and Article 73 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, with the support of the Russian Federation (including the military), held an illegal referendum, seeking to legitimize the occupation and annexation of the peninsula to the territory of the RF. The referendum formalized the temporary occupation of the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and their accession to the RF as a federal region. Thereafter, in order to promote the occupation regime and to suppress the resistance of pro-Ukrainian population, top leadership of the RF adopted a number of laws and bylaws, thereby facilitating the illegal establishment of the so-called judicial, law enforcement and local government bodies of the Republic of Crimea. Legitimized in this manner and fully controlled by the RF, seeking to secure and maintain the occupation regime, the self-proclaimed authorities of the occupied Crimea set about promoting the RF policies of persecution for political, religious, racial, ethnic and other such reasons, with the help of vigilantes from the so-called self-defense of Crimea, as well as through operation of the law enforcement agencies and courts. The crimes most commonly committed for the purpose of securing the occupation regime include premeditated murder, abductions and disappearances, cruel and inhumane treatment, illegal imprisonment, deprivation of the right to a fair trial, embezzlement and destruction of property, illegal conscription into the ranks of the armed forces of the RF, harassment and deprivation of other fundamental human rights and freedoms. In addition, seeking to secure their regime, the occupation authorities are pursuing a policy that involves the replacement of population in Crimea with the Russian population, which is expressed, in addition to the crimes already mentioned, in the settlement of Crimea by the Russian citizens, the extension of the Russian laws over the territory of the occupied Crimea, provision of the Russian citizenship to the population of Crimea and embezzlement of the state property of Ukraine in Crimea. All these crimes perpetrated by the occupation authorities, law enforcement agencies, military and other such organizations controlled by the top leadership of the RF served to secure the occupation regime in Crimea. Meanwhile, the Law of Ukraine "On ensuring the rights and freedoms of the citizens and the legal order in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine" dated 04/15/2014, specifically Article 1 through Article 3, defines the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as temporarily occupied, resulting from the armed aggression of the RF, since 02/20/2014. In its resolution No. 71/205 dated 12/19/2016 - Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine), the UN General Assembly condemns the temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine - the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation. The UN General Assembly further condemned the ongoing temporary occupation by the RF of part of the territory of Ukraine - the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol in its resolutions No. 72/190 dated 12/19/2017 - Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, No. 73/194 dated 12/17/2018, and No. 74/168 dated 12/18/2019. According to Article 4 of the Convention, persons protected by the Convention are those who at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a party to the conflict or occupying power of which they are not nationals. In addition, Article 13 of the Convention stipulates that provisions of Part II (General protection of populations against certain consequences of war) cover the whole of the populations of the countries in conflict, without any adverse distinction based, in particular, on race, nationality, religion or political opinion, and are intended to alleviate the sufferings caused by war. According to article 27 of the Convention, protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honor, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices,and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity. Taking into account the above, the occupation of Crimea by the Russian Federation that is tantamount to an international armed conflict, meets the criteria for the existence of an armed conflict, which is a prerequisite for criminal prosecution for the most serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. According to the findings of the pre-trial investigation, personnel and military equipment of the military units, special operations forces as part of separate special-purpose brigades and of the Special Purpose Center Senezh, as well as the military personnel and military equipment of a separate marine brigade which were deployed on the territory of the Crimean peninsula on the basis of the Agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation On the Status and Conditions of the Presence of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation on the Territory of Ukraine of 1999, were moved from the Russian Federation to Crimea between late February 2014 and early March 2014 (more precise dates have not been established). Between late February 2014 and early March 2014 (more precise dates have not been established by the pre-trial investigation), these units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation blocked and seized the buildings of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Simferopol, 18 K. Marx str.), the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Simferopol, 13 Kirov ave.), buildings of state and local authorities, premises and units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, military facilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Navy. Under Article 29 of the Convention, the party to the conflict in whose hands protected persons may be, is responsible for the treatment accorded to them by its agents, irrespective of any individual responsibility which may be incurred. Under Article 27 of the Convention, protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honor, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity. Having thus established the functional automatism of the governance through a strictly defined hierarchy and control over the subordinate performers, the top leadership of the Russian Federation secured the implementation and multi-level control over the implementation of its occupation policy aimed at the ultimate annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and the suppression of any attempted resistance from the civilian population of the peninsula. Legitimized in this manner and fully controlled by the RF, seeking to secure and maintain the occupation regime, the self-proclaimed authorities of the occupied Crimea set about promoting the RF policies of persecution for political, religious, racial, ethnic and other such reasons, with the help of vigilantes from the so-called self-defense of Crimea, as well as through operation of the law enforcement agencies and courts. The crimes most commonly committed for the purpose of securing the occupation regime include premeditated murder, abductions and disappearances, cruel and inhumane treatment, illegal imprisonment, deprivation of the right to a fair trial, embezzlement and destruction of property, illegal conscription into the ranks of the armed forces of the RF, harassment and deprivation of other fundamental human rights and freedoms. Meanwhile, Article 49 of the Convention prohibits individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, regardless of their motive, and further stipulates that the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. In violation of this provision, the occupation authorities are pursuing the policy that involves the replacement of the Crimean population with the Russian citizens, which is expressed, in addition to the crimes already mentioned, in settlement of Crimea by the Russian citizens, the extension of the Russian laws over the territory of the occupied Crimea, provision of the Russian citizenship to the population of Crimea and embezzlement of the state property of Ukraine in Crimea. All these crimes perpetrated by the occupation authorities, law enforcement agencies, military and other such organizations controlled by the top leadership of the RF served to secure the occupation regime in Crimea. Proceeding from the fact that the criminal acts were associated with the occupation of the peninsula and the policy of the occupation authorities aimed at persecuting persons who oppose the occupation regime, the perpetrator of the crime was aware of the factual circumstances indicating the existence of an armed conflict (occupation). As noted above, the very fact of the occupation was condemned by both the international community and the legislation of Ukraine, and was widely covered in official publications and the media. Pursuant to Article 64 of the Convention, the penal laws of the occupied territory shall remain in force, with the exception that they may be repealed or suspended by the occupying power in cases where they constitute a threat to its security or an obstacle to the application of the present Convention. Subject to the latter consideration and to the necessity for ensuring the effective administration of justice, the tribunals of the occupied territory shall continue to function in respect of all offenses covered by the said laws. In the context of the occupation of Crimea, the Russian Federation, as the occupying power, had no right to interfere with the administration of justice by the Ukrainian courts. In addition, pursuant to Article 47 of the Convention, protected persons who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived, in any case or in any manner whatsoever, of the benefits of the present Convention by any change introduced, as the result of the occupation of a territory, into the institutions or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded between the authorities of the occupied territories and the occupying power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole or part of the occupied territory. On 02/27/2014, the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted a decision On the expression of no confidence in the Council of Ministers of the ARC and the termination of its activities, after which the government was dismissed and a new Chairman was appointed. Later on, the so-called "chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea", acting in collusion with the so-called "chairman of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea", with the intent of a forcible uprooting of the constitutional system of Ukraine and seizing the power in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, seeking to legitimize their blatantly criminal actions, drafted and delivered an unlawful submission to the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, then lobbied for the approval, signing and publishing, in contravention of the Constitution and applicable laws of Ukraine, the binding decisions that lead to embezzlement and destruction of property within the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, that occurred in conditions of an international armed conflict, further considering that any such actions could not be reasonably justified by the exigency of war, including Resolution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea No. 1704-6/14 dated 03/06/2014 - On Modifications in the Structure of Executive Authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Subsequently, on 05/21/2014, the illegally established State Council of the Republic of Crimea adopted the so-called Law of the Republic of Crimea On the System of the State executive Authorities of the Republic of Crimea, stipulating that the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea is the permanent supreme executive body of the state authority. In addition, Article 25 of this law stipulates that the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea presides over the meetings of the Council of Ministers, having the right to vote, and signs the acts of the said body. Pursuant to Decree of the illegally established Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea No. 1758-6/14 dated 03/17/2014 - On the matters of energy safety of the Republic of Crimea, signed by the so-called Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and pursuant to Resolution of the illegally established Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea No. 165-r dated 03/17/2014 - On the establishment of Crimean republican enterprise Chernomorneftegaz, signed by the so-called Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea, all movable and immovable property of the State Joint-Stock Company Chornomornaftogaz within the Republic of Crimea, its continental shelf, the exclusive (maritime) economic zone, that comprises and was not included in the authorized capital of the Company as part of non-current (intangible) and current assets, including the state property (owned by Ukraine), made available to the same for use, and the property on its on-balance and off-balance accounts, the accounting, statistical and other documents of the enterprise, were declared the property of the Republic of Crimea and assigned to the balance sheet of the Crimean Republican Enterprise Chernomorneftegaz - a legal entity established under the laws of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. Therefore, resulting from the illegal temporary occupation of the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Public Joint-Stock Company State Joint Stock-Company Chernomorneftegaz lost the power to dispose of its property, namely: floating craft - 27 pcs; non-residential and residential premises - 35 pcs; and floating drilling rigs - 4 pcs.