Russia dismisses new US sanctions as useless

[newthinking]

17. Did you read the history yet?

Last edited Mon Dec 22, 2014, 01:14 AM - Edit history (1)

I will post it again.

These are not debatable facts. This is the history. In my opinion there should eventually be a replay of the vote with international monitors to settle it. But the narrative is extremely political and ignorant of what really happened. The referendum was called not by Putin; it was actually called by the legitimate (voted in) duma of Crimea (they still had their own parliment). There were not guns all over the street intimidating people. The situation on the ground was less intimidating than the Ukraine election a couple of months ago. It was an emotional and indeed fearful period, but Crimeans were not afraid at all of the Russian presence.


Under "Ukraine Period" Heading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_background_of_the_2014_pro-Russian_unrest_in_Ukraine

This was followed by a 1992 vote by the Crimean parliament to hold a referendum on independence from Ukraine, which spawned a two-year crisis over the status of Crimea. At the same time, the State Duma of the Russian Federation voted to void the cession of Crimea to Ukraine. In June of the same year, the Ukrainian government in Kiev voted to give Crimea a large amount autonomy as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within Ukraine. Despite this, fighting between the Crimean government, Russian government, and Ukrainian government continued. In 1994, Russian nationalist Yuri Meshkov won the 1994 Crimean presidential election, and implemented the earlier approved referendum on the status of Crimea. 1.3 million people voted in this referendum, 78.4% of whom supported greater autonomy from Ukraine, whilst 82.8% supported allowing dual Russian-Ukrainian citizenship. Later in that same year, the status of Crimea as part of Ukraine was recognised by Russia, which pledged to uphold the territorial integrity of Ukraine in the Budapest Memorandum. This treaty was also signed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France. Ukraine revoked the Constitution of Crimea and abolished the office of President of Crimea in 1995. Crimea was granted a new constitution in 1998, which granted lesser autonomy than the previous one.