[ichabod1]

You can think of Ukraine in East-West terms. The western part of the country is pro-West, pro-NATO, pro being a separate country and ANTI remaining in the Russian orbit. The eastern side of the country has a lot more people who moved there from Russia when it was all soviet, so they have deep family ties with and warm feelings for Russia. It doesn't help, though, when Russia offers practically any Ukrainian dual citizen-ship so he can pack the east with people who would rather align with Russia. That's how he justified the in the province of Crimea.

[TEXOKIE]

ichabod1 to TEXOKIE
You can think of Ukraine in East-West terms. The western part of the country is pro-West, pro-NATO, pro being a separate country and ANTI remaining in the Russian orbit. The eastern side of the country has a lot more people who moved there from Russia when it was all soviet, so they have deep family ties with and warm feelings for Russia. It doesn’t help, though, when Russia offers practically any Ukrainian dual citizen-ship so he can pack the east with people who would rather align with Russia. That’s how he justified the in the province of Crimea.

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Thank you so much for that insight, Ichabod1!

[little jeremiah]

Did you read the Ukraine live thread when the Euro Maidan “protests” were happening? Caww provided yeoman reporting along with lots of photos. I read every inch of that long thread and it was a huge eye opener. Caww - if you have a link to that thread, would you mind posting it?

The situation in Ukraine as “evil Russkis/innocent oppressed Ukrainians” was propaganda. And that includes Crimea. Crimea has traditionally, historically, belonged to Russia.