Crimea resident: “All the fairy tales about a great life with Russia turned out to be just Aksenov’s yarns”

To the Southeast and all of Ukraine. My name is Andriy Sokolov. I am 37 years old and I reside in Yalta. I voted for the Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and I have already realized what a huge mistake I have made. There are no words to describe what is happening in Crimea. You have to see it for yourself. I am a businessman and own several cottages near the central beach. Crimea is now living in complete information, legislation, and grocery chaos. All the fairy tales about a great life with Russia turned out to be just Aksenov’s yarns. They pulled off what they wanted and simply vanished. No one tells us anything, so Crimeans have no clue what to do and how to live further. No one gives a rat’s tail about us.

Advertisement

ANOTHER RUSSIA-ORCHESTRATED ROGUE STATE?

By Robert van Voren

So it seems the next steps are becoming clearer. Yanukovych, propped up health-wise by his mentor Putin, will gloriously return to Eastern Ukraine with well-armed and – of course – unmarked “self-defence forces”, set up his own government in “liberated territories” and claim to be the sole legal representative of the Ukrainian people. Putin, totally surprised by this extraordinary move, will feel compelled to respond to the heartfelt cry for assistance from Russian brethren and fulfil his obligations according to international law. As Yanukovych is according to Russia still the only legitimate President of Ukraine Russia sees no alternative than to recognise his government and there you are – another rogue state on the border of Russia. And with a little bit of luck the “self-defence forces” (unmarked, of course) will manage to occupy the whole east and south of the country and link Russia with its other rogue state, Transdniestria.

My worry is what Kyiv will do. It seems to have sunk into apathy and lack of ability to take any concrete steps. If you see how Ukrainian troops were “pulled back” from Crimea, in total disarray and without even receiving proper orders from Kyiv, my fear is Yanukovich will indeed be successful.

For Russia is is the next step towards isolation, patriotic ecstasy and neo-fascism. It is also one step closer to its demise, but why do so many people have to suffer before it reaches that stage?!

Discussions on Crimea’s status become illegal

On May 9, 2014, a new law takes effect in the Russian Federation that criminalizes public calls for violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation, reports Ukrainska Pravda on March 24.

This law, which was approved in Russia late last year, would also include discussions on the status of Crimea since Russia now considers Crimea part of its territory.

International Response to Annexation of Crimea

© Javier Jarrín / Ecuador / 2014

United Kingdom

Prime Minister David Cameron, 18 March 2014

“The steps taken by President Putin today to attempt to annex Crimea to Russia are in flagrant breach of international law and send a chilling message across the continent of Europe.”

“It is completely unacceptable for Russia to use force to change borders, on the basis of a sham referendum held at the barrel of a Russian gun. President Putin should be in no doubt that Russia will face more serious consequences …”

Foreign Secretary William Hague, 18 March 2014

“No amount of sham and perverse democratic process or skewed historical references can make up for the fact that this is an incursion into a sovereign state and a land-grab of part of its territory, with no respect for the law of that country or for international law.”

Delayed invasion/May Gambit – Thoughts from Kyiv on 22 March 2014

Mychailo Wynnyckyj PhD, March 23, 2014 

Is an invasion of eastern Ukraine by Russian troops imminent? This seems to be the question on everyone’s mind tonight. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper alluded to such a possibility during his press conference with Ukrainian PM Yatseniuk in Kyiv today. Yesterday, the US Embassy in Kyiv issued an updated travel warning: “The Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer all non-essential travel to Ukraine and to defer all travel to the Crimean Peninsula and eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lugansk due to the presence of Russian military forces in the Crimean Peninsula, and in Russia near the Ukrainian border.”

 

Comparing with Hitler

By Robert van Voren

For many years I wondered how my uncle must have felt in 1938-1939, when dark clouds were gathering over Europe. My namesake Robert van Voren was then 21 years old, out of secondary school and studying to be an engineer in Delft, The Netherlands. He was a bit of a loner, cycling across Europe on an old-fashioned black Dutch bike and observing how the continent was changing rapidly. One of his trips brought him to Finland, where he watched Soviet planes fly over Vyborg as an omen of the Finish-Soviet War that would soon break out and cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Europe was on the brink of war.

Whatever he felt, he was upset enough to join the Dutch resistance almost immediately after the German invasion in May 1940. For more than three years he would falsify documents for Jews and British pilots, help the first to hide from the Germans and the latter to escape back to Britain via Portugal. He did this under various pseudonyms, until he was arrested in October 1943, incarcerated in the prison in Scheveningen (now the “home” of the defendants of the International Criminal Court), and then sent to camps in Germany and Poland. He lived to see the Americans, but died two weeks later of starvation and a variety of illnesses.

Reclaiming Crimea: is it legal? — Mychailo Wynnyckyj on Inside Story, 18.03.2014 (Video)

Reclaiming Crimea: is it legal? — Mychailo Wynnyckyj on Inside Story, 18.03.2014 (Video).

viaReclaiming Crimea: is it legal? — Mychailo Wynnyckyj on Inside Story, 18.03.2014 (Video).

New bill introduced in Russian Duma proposes simplified process for the accession of territories belonging to foreign states

According to the bill, introduced in response to the situation in Ukraine, Crimea could be annexed by Russia based on the results of a referendum, without international involvement.

Moscow, February 28. INTERFAX.RU – A group of deputies led by Sergey Mironov, head of the faction A Just Russia, introduced a bill that establishes a simplified procedure for a foreign territory to accede to the Russian Federation. The explanatory note for the bill states that it pertains to the situation in Ukraine.