SIMFEROPOL, September 25. /TASS/. The accession of the Crimean Peninsula to Russia will go down in world history as a unique process, the head of the republic, Sergey Aksynov, told TASS in an interview.

"2014 was an exclusive year when Crimea returned home without a shot being fired. Not a single window was broken. The way it happened will go down in global history," he said. "There was a referendum, there was the president [of Russia, Vladimir Putin], and there were the Crimean residents who expressed their choice. And the leader supported the will of the Crimean people. <…> I think that operation will have no analogue," he continued.

According to Aksyonov, security of Crimean residents was ensured jointly by units from the Russian Defense Ministry and the people’s army in Crimea.

Crimea and the city of Sevastopol became part of Russia following a referendum held on March 16, 2014, after a coup in Ukraine. More than 80% of eligible voters on the peninsula took part, with 96.7% in Crimea and 95.6% in Sevastopol voting in favor of reunification with Russia. On March 18, 2014, the Russian president and the leaders of Crimea and Sevastopol signed an agreement on their admission to Russia, which was ratified by the Federal Assembly on March 21.