Russia's takeover of Crimea extends from the flags over government buildings to passports to the labels on wine bottles. Despite the international criticism, many Crimeans are happy to rejoin Moscow.

During Soviet times, Tatars, an ethnic Turkic group who had lived in Crimea since the 13th century, were forcibly expelled by Josef Stalin. They mainly settled in exile in Turkey and Uzbekistan.

Crimea was home to Turkic-speaking Tatars when the Russian empire first annexed it in the 18th century. It briefly regained independence two centuries later before being swallowed by the Soviet Union.

They were also persecuted while the peninsula, and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union, with long-time dictator Joseph Stalin forcibly deporting them from Crimea in 1944.

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Russia's takeover of Crimea extends from the flags over government buildings to passports to the labels on wine bottles. Despite the international criticism, many Crimeans are happy to rejoin Moscow.