The standard of living in Crimea was a lot less than in Russia. Crimea is going to have a class envy problem and no amount of seed planting is going to solve that overnight. It would be like adopting Ethiopia into the USA.
Fairly similar to East and West Germany soon after reunification.
Agree it’s going to take an investment on Putin’s part...but remember the oil is in Crimea....Putin, as tough as he is, has a soft spot for loyalty. The Crimea people just showed him that. It will not go unrewarded especially since he took the oil he’ll surely increase and upgrade. Here’s an interesting read...
From Barrons: - Russia’s concentration of economic power means the state can hold its oligarchs for ransom and force enterprises to forgo profits at the bidding of politicians. ....A 2012 study by Troika Dialog Research estimated that the Russian state owns 30% of the equity market, with another 30% held by oligarchs and domestic “businessmen.” Russia’s 10 richest men own $25 billion in publicly listed Russian companies, according to Wealth-X, which tracks individuals of ultra-high net worth.... The Russian stock market has a total valuation of $150 billion. Many of these rich individuals owe their wealth to Putin, so they aren’t likely to defy him.......This means that in effect the state controls some 60% of the market because the Russian oligarchs will follow Kremlin’s lead.