A look at the diamond-shaped peninsula in the Black Sea, coveted by both Russia and Ukraine for its naval bases and beaches: Crimea was home to Turkic-speaking Tatars when the Russian empire ...

Crimea, which juts out into the Black Sea off southern Ukraine, was absorbed into the Russian empire along with most ethnic Ukrainian territory by Catherine the Great in the 18th century.

FILE - People watch as Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech after signing treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia in the Moscow's Kremlin, during a meeting in Sevastopol ...

Explainer-Where Is Crimea and Why Is It Contested? (Reuters) - The Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, is at the centre of the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.