Abstract: This article concerns the analysis of the foreign political operation in Crimea, which was implemented by the armed forces of the Russian Federation ("polite people"), the author provides evaluations of efficiency of this operation, conclusions are made on the key elements of unexpectedness and conspiracy. Considering the fact that the documents on this foreign political operation are not in open access, the conclusion that secrecy was upmost important follows from the statements of the Russian politicians and diplomats, who have commented on the results of reunion of the Crimea and the Russian Federation. It is noted that in spite of the fact that this foreign political operation was successful and its goal was achieved, it did have some shortcomings, which may be explained by the specific features of the Crimean precedent. As a result of the analysis the author reveals some moments which partially showed the participation of the Russian armed forces in the events in the Crimea. The conclusion is made regarding what could be done to avoid the preliminary publicity on the fact of participation of the Russian armed forces. The conclusions in this article may be used for planning and implementation of similar scenarios.