Catherine II annexes the Crimean Khanate
What, exactly, was at stake? Potemkin’s list was short but compelling: the security of the empire’s borders from the Bug River to the Kuban River (in other words, from just east of Odessa to the foothills of the Caucasus), the lasting allegiance of all inhabitants of the empire, and unimpeded access to the Black Sea. “Believe me,” wrote Potemkin, “with this acquisition you will achieve immortal glory such that no other Sovereign in Russia has ever had.”
On April 8, 1783, Catherine II issued a manifesto declaring Russia's annexation of the Crimean Khanate, the Kuban, and the Taman peninsula. The region would remain under Romanov rule until the collapse of the dynasty - and empire - in 1917.