Since January, all vehicles in Russia must display license plates featuring the national flag — a rule extended to annexed Crimea. Many car owners on the peninsula, however, are refusing to show Russian state symbols. But as Kremlin-installed authorities ramp up enforcement, this quiet defiance is being met with fines and even jail time. RFE/RL’s Crimean service, Krym.Realii, learned how residents are getting around the requirements and how occupation officials are responding. Meduza shares an abridged translation of the outlet’s reporting.

As of January 1, 2025, all vehicles registered in Russia are required to display license plates featuring the Russian flag. The rule extends to annexed Crimea — but not everyone there is eager to comply.

The struggle over license plates in Crimea began after Russia’s 2014 occupation and annexation of the peninsula, when residents were ordered to re-register their vehicles under Russian law. That process dragged on for years, and many continued driving with Ukrainian plates for as long as possible.

Now, three years into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the authorities have made it mandatory for car owners to visibly demonstrate loyalty to the state — by displaying license plates with the Russian tricolor.

The idea of a requirement had been floated in earlier years, but many Crimeans were in no hurry to have a Russian flag on their car. Some even went so far as to purchase “alternative” plates from private vendors that omitted Russian state symbols altogether.

“It turns out that there are people in Crimean cities who, even with Russian passports, manage to order license plates without the Russian flag,” wrote the administrators of the VKontakte group Black List Crimea/Simferopol/Sevastopol. “Why are such non-traditional actions allowed in our traditional country? And who are these people who are ashamed of our flag?”

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‘Unpatriotic’ license plates

In June, Russian security forces filed two misdemeanor charges and issued a formal warning to a car owner in Crimea’s Bilohirsk District, accusing him of displaying an “unpatriotic” license plate. According to Alexander Talipov — a pro-war blogger in Feodosia who collaborates with Russian security services — the car’s Russian flag had been covered with black tape.

Drivers across Crimea have long found creative ways to avoid displaying the flag on their license plates. According to local social media groups, some obscure the flag with tape or paint, others order duplicate plates without the tricolor, and some affix “UA” (Ukraine) stickers to their vehicles.

In the summer of 2024, a BMW driver in Dzhankoi reportedly scraped off the flag from his plate. Similar incidents were reported in Sevastopol, where pro-Russian bloggers noted that, for some residents, “it’s shameful to drive under the Russian flag.”

In the fall, a driver in the village of Teplivka was reportedly forced by police to remove a “UA” sticker from his car. “He couldn’t explain why he hadn’t removed it in the last 10 years,” one post claimed.

Back in May 2023, a Crimean man was jailed for five days after painting over the Russian flag on his plate and getting into a spat with another driver from Donbas, who had covered a Ukrainian flag on his own car with a Russian one.

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According to the Mission of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, Russian authorities are deliberately “erasing all expressions of Ukrainian identity” on the peninsula through intimidation, searches, and arrests. But even after 11 years of occupation, the agency continues to document acts of resistance — what it calls part of “a daily struggle for freedom.”

“Despite years of repression and systematic persecution, the residents of temporarily occupied Crimea have not lost their ties to Ukraine,” the office said. “They preserve their identity, language, and culture, and every day — despite the threat of arrests and searches — they choose resistance. It’s not just an act of courage. It’s a path toward Crimea’s liberation. Because as long as there is resistance, there is hope.”

It also voiced support for “everyone who refuses to remain silent,” and reiterated that Crimea “was and remains part of Ukraine” — not only under international law, but because of “the position of its people.”

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