[goldstategop]

No more having to pay Ukraine rent on the Navy base in Sevastopol.

If its turned it into a few trade zone like Kaliningrad Oblast, it could even become a lucrative cash cow for Russia.

And Crimea again would become a summer playground for the Russian elite.

[Rudder]

Zero will pay for Russia's Crimean venture and portray it as a goodwill gesture of heroic proportions...Here I Come to Save the Day!!

[ncalburt]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/03/15/russias-propaganda-war-on-ukraine-reaches-soviet-levels-ahead-of-crimea-vote/

this is the Putin Soviet propaganda your peddling here !

[Ivan Mazepa]

Assuming, of course, Putin doesn’t start a war with Ukraine or Crimean Tatars, because you know what a magnet to tourism and trade a war zone is.

Also, Putin invested billions into Sochi, so he needs the people to go there, not Crimea. Three quarters of tourists were coming from Ukraine. There was nothing stopping Russians from coming, instead they went to Greece, Turkey, Cyprus etc.