The Soviet Union gifted the Crimea to Ukraine in 1954.
The Russians want Crimea for Sevastopol, its only warm water port.
Poverty engenders many extremist parties.
Because oil is at ~$100 Russian income is at around $22k GDP per capita and the neo-Nazi movement very prevalent in Russia in the 90’s has receded. Most of Russia’s wealth is concentrated in Greater Moscow. Calling the Russian Communist Party and A Just Russia Party headed by one of Putin’s close buddies “opposition” parties is a farce. They are a window dressing for Russian “democracy.” They are part of Putin’s state apparatus.
Ukraine with a GDP per capita of ~$4k is a breeding ground for extremist of all kinds including Neo-Fascist. There are strong Neo-Fascist(Nazi) movements inside the EU like Hungary, Austria, and Greece. But they are a small minority in Ukrainian Government.
Ukrainians have the right to protest and Parliament has the right to remove the president, which the Ukrainian Parliament exercised. No coup.
Oh, please. The notion that Zyuganov is a buddy of Putin is so idiotic it is impossible to comment on.
The parliament only ousted Yanukovich after he had already fled the country and the parliament literally had armed mobs occupying its halls. They might as well have announced, “Ratify our actions or die!”
The 22K income per capita is by far the highest its even been in Russia, wealthier than the vast majority of the Earth, and six times what it was when Putin took over in the 1990s.