Consumer rights group says tourists visiting Crimea without Ukraine’s permission risk jail time

A consumer rights organization in Russia has advised Russian citizens to seek permission from Ukrainian border guards before visiting Crimea. According to the “Public Control” Society for Protecting Consumer Rights (OZPP), which Russian officials have labeled a “foreign agent,” tourists traveling to Crimea today risk criminal liability, given the peninsula's legal status as an occupied territory.

OZPP recommends that tourists appeal to Ukrainian border control officers in the Kherson region, just north of Crimea, noting that travel agencies should reimburse anyone they didn’t warn about the potential risks of visiting the contested territory.

The consumer rights group also warns boating enthusiasts that the waters around Crimea are still formally Ukrainian, meaning that ships near the peninsula’s coast without Ukraine’s permission are violating an international border.

Buying property in Crimea, OZPP says, is also risky, as the Ukrainian government has frozen access to Crimea’s real estate registry, “creating the possibility for fraud associated with the repeated sale of property to different individuals.” In fact, OZPP warns against buying any goods or services, especially from businesses that have abandoned Crimea for legal reasons, saying there is a high change of counterfeit goods and nullified warranties.

• The Crimean Peninsula, also known as Crimea, is a territory of about 27,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles) on the northern coast of the Black Sea. In 1954, the Soviet government transferred the territory from the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and it remained a part of independent Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In March 2014, Russia reabsorbed Crimea, following a referendum held on the peninsula on March 16.
• Today, just seven members of the United Nations formally recognize the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as federal subjects of the Russian Federation: Russia, Afghanistan, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela. The position of Belarus remains unclear.