title: Imposed Secession
abstract: Abstract This chapter identifies the key elements of Russia’s “secessionist template,” which was first introduced in Crimea and was later adopted in Donbas. Its objective was to organize pro-Russian mobilization among locals under separatist slogans, which could then serve as a cover for the Russian armed intervention in these two regions. The chapter traces the continuity in tactics and the actors that used them from the annexation of Crimea to the onset of the armed uprising in Donbas. It also