Crimea’s pro-Moscow leaders say the repossessions under the nationalisation law enacted August 8 seeks to right wrongs committed by officials in Ukraine. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
Above, the historical building of the state-owned Massandra winery in Yalta, Crimea. Massandra has lost a 30-acre plot of land in a popular resort town to the local authorities. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
A defence force guards and chases away any would-be visitors at the Dobrobut farm in Grabovo, Crimea. Dobrobut was one of dozens of businesses to be forcibly taken over this year by Crimea’s pro-Moscow leaders. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
Crimean prime minister Sergei Aksyonov has defended the decision to forcibly take over dozens of businesses and properties since coming to power in March. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
The owners of Yalta Studios managed to get the armed men to quit the premises, but have not been able to register yet as a Russian company. Without that status, they can not legally remain in business after January 1. Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
A woman lights a candle before a service in the St Olga and St Vladimir Cathedral in Simferopol, Crimea.The property has come under threat from Crimea’s pro-Moscow leaders, who have hiked up the rent and are threatening to take the property from the church. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
Sera Aliyeva, centre, surrounded by her relatives and friend, prays during wedding in a mosque in Sary-Su, Crimea. Crimea’s 300,000 Tatar Muslims feel particularly vulnerable because of their tenuous hold on the homes and land they inhabit. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
A view of a vineyard of the state-owned Massandra winery in Yalta, Crimea. Massandra has lost a 30-acre plot of land in a popular resort town to the local authorities. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
Sergei Arshinov, the co-owner of Yalta Film Studios in Crimea which was slated for nationalisation in September. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP Photo
Above, Zaliv, a ship-building factory in Kerch, Crimea. The ship-building factory was forcibly seized from its Ukrainian owners by a Russian company in August. Laura Mills / AP Photo
Crimea’s new pro-Moscow leaders have taken over around 4,000 enterprises, organisations and agencies, which they call nationalisations, claiming they are indispensable to reverse years of wholesale plunder by Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs.