[PixelsCommander]

Crimeans just asked for the same right against Ukraine as Ukrainians asked against Russia. And it was direction population liked most. The same asked east of Ukraine which is at war now. This is how "soft power" works in these countries with a little help from western friends.

Kiev is indeed awesome place to visit however you should be a desperate guy to move there not being slav.

[kafkaesq]

Crimeans just asked for the same right against Ukraine as Ukrainians asked against Russia.

They didn't "just ask", of course. A visit by 3,000 or so "vacationing" soldiers from a certain large, neighboring country had something to do with it also.

[my_first_acct]

Just to set the record straight, even though no one is likely to read this.

> Crimeans just asked for the same right against Ukraine as Ukrainians asked against Russia.

Ukraine and Russia both declared independence from the USSR in the months before the USSR was officially dissolved in 1991 [1]. In Soviet times, Ukraine was not part of Russia; they were both constituent "Republics" of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with the right to secede from the USSR, under the USSR constitution. They both exercised this right, but it is not correct that Ukraine asked for independence from Russia, since it was not part of Russia.

As for "help from western friends", President Bush in Kiev, in 1991, before Ukraine left the USSR, warned the Ukrainians against "suicidal nationalism"; he refused to meet with leaders of the pro-independence movement [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Unio...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_Kiev_speech