evidence: Moreover, Russia already had experience conducting special operations in Crimea, in particular during a dispute over tiny Tuzla island in the Kerch Strait in 2003 when Russia tried to connect the Ukrainian island with its Taman Peninsula, and the campaign of Yuri Meshkov, who was elected president of Crimea in 1994 after calling for the peninsula’s accession to Russia. [...] - "Probna viyna. 15 rokiv tomu Rosiya sprobuvala zakhopyty ukrayinsʹkyy ostriv Tuzla (The trial war. Fifteen years ago, Russia tried to capture the Ukrainian island Tuzla)." NV.ua, September, 29, 2018, https://nv.ua/ukr/ukraine/events/probna-vijna-15-rokiv-tomu-rosija-sprobuvala-zakhopiti-ukrajinskij-ostriv-tuzla-2496372.html. [↩]