With its Crimean takeover, Russia has not only expanded its borders -- it's also reclaimed miles of sunny, storied beachfront property. Here's a look at Crimea's history as a prime holiday destination.
Crimea: Playground For The Elite
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The last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his wife, Empress Aleksandra, sightseeing on the Ai-Petri mountain peak outside Yalta in 1909
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Soviet leader Josef Stalin spent summer breaks at Yalta's Massandra Palace, and famously hosted British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt for the Yalta Conference in 1945.
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Soviet luminaries like cosmonaut Yury Gagarin, the first man in space, were also frequent visitors to Crimea. Here, Gagarin (smoking) and composer Aleksandra Pakhmutova (far right) during a fishing trip in the resort town of Hurzuf in June 1965.
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Crimea was also a key destination for well-placed Soviet citizens, who competed at work and school for highly prized "kurorty," or spa trips, at resorts like the Rabochy Ugolok (Workers' Corner) in Alushta.
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Vacationers enjoy a low-frills aerial lift in Yalta, 1968.
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A beachside nurse at the Ukraina sanatorium perfoms a check-up on a vacationer from Kabardino-Balkaria in 1977.
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Nor was Crimea only for adults. It was also the site of Artek, a deluxe Young Pioneer camp for the offspring of Soviet bureaucrats and other children lucky enough to secure a spot through academic or athletic achievement. Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Budyonny pays a visit to the camp in 1946.
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Young Pioneers line up for a group portrait. Because of the warm climate, Artek operated year-round. At its peak it hosted 27,000 children a year.
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Artek vacationers in 1972. The camp featured three swimming pools, a film studio, and a 7,000-seat stadium for performances and sporting events.
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Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu meets with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in Yalta in 1976. Brezhnev was a frequent visitor to Crimea, and continued the trend of hosting foreign guests from both inside and outside the communist bloc.
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Despite East-West tensions, Brezhnev and U.S. President Richard Nixon shared a suprising number of relaxing moments. The Cold War adversaries went on a Black Sea boat trip during Nixon's trip to Crimea in 1974.
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Finally, some alone time: Brezhnev reading "Pravda" during a Crimea vacation in 1978.
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Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a walking meeting in Yalta in May 2003.
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Putin visiting with campers -- now wearing blue scarves instead of communist-era red -- at Artek in 2001. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the camp was changed from a Young Pioneer site to an "international children's center."