SIMFEROPOL, February 6. /TASS/. Largest US e-commerce company Amazon has notified its clients in Crimea about ceasing operations in the region. Crimean residents were asked to delete their accounts on Amazon before February 13. If they fail to proceed with the recommendation, their accounts will be compulsorily deactivated by the company.

In an official letter, Amazon said the measure has been adopted in connection with economic sanctions recently announced by the US government that ban providing services in Crimea.

In February, US Internet giant Google also restricted access of Crimean residents to a number of services.

Online marketplace eBay also announced it wasn't able to set up a full-scale service in Crimea. eBay's subsidiary PayPal announced the suspension of services for Crimean residents as well.

Crimea's accession to Russia

The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, refused to recognize the legitimacy of authorities brought to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Crimea and Sevastopol adopted declarations of independence on March 11. They held a referendum on March 16, in which 96.77% of Crimeans and 95.6% of Sevastopol voters chose to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the reunification deals March 18.

In the Soviet Union, Crimea used to be part of Russia until 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the USSR’s Communist Party, transferred it to Ukraine's jurisdiction as a gift.

Work to integrate the Crimean Peninsula into Russia’s economic, financial, credit, legal, state power, military conscription and infrastructure systems is actively underway now that Crimea has accessed to the Russian Federation.

Despite Moscow’s repeated statements that the Crimean referendum on secession from Ukraine was in line with the international law and the UN Charter and in conformity with the precedent set by Kosovo’s secession from Serbia in 2008, the West and Kiev have refused to recognize the legality of Crimea’s reunification with Russia.