In 2014, Ukrainian radical nationalists, backed up by the EU and the US, seized power in Kiev overthrowing the legitimate president of the country, Viktor Yanukovych. The installation of new government sparked protests in the country's southeast. Since April 2014, pro-Russian separatists have been battling pro-Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine. In March 2014, a vast majority of people in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea voted for "reunification with Russia" and the region became a part of the Russian Federation.
