Not Giving Up

From Interfax Ukraine:
"Ukrainian leadership won't give up attempts to liberate Crimea from Russia - foreign minister"

Ukraine will not give up its attempts to make sure that Crimea again becomes its integral part, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said. "The theme of Crimea won't vanish anywhere until Crimea is liberated from Russia," Klimkin said at a Verkhovna Rada session on Wednesday. "We have no confidence in Russia, and no one in the civilized world has confidence in Russia - this is a proven fact," Klimkin said. "Our chance within the framework of the Normandy format and within the framework of another format is to use our power and also political and particularly sanction pressure of our friends and partners in order to force Russia to abide by key standards," Klimkin said.

The Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that, following a referendum in Crimea on March 16, 2014, in which over 90% of its participants voted in support of Crimea's becoming part of Russia, the Crimea issue has been closed once and for all.

 

^ The Crimea is part of the Ukraine regardless of the annexation by Russia and should remain Ukrainian until the people of the Crimea (ethnic Tartars, Ukrainians and Russians) decide otherwise and can do so freely without Russian guns pointed at them as it was in the 2014 referendum. You can not consider any vote held under threat of violence legal and the Ukraine and most of the UN member nations feel the same way. The fact that Putin stated that he was going to invade, occupy and annex the Crimea long before any referendum shows that the Russians were going to take the Crimea with or without the support of the Crimeans. Their decision has isolated Russia to the point not seen since Soviet times (especially after they invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1979.) I have many Russian friends (both inside Russia and around the world) and it is clear that the sanctions and economic problems in Russia are more pronounced than the media and the government are letting on - especially noticeable to Russians who travel outside of the country. It's sad that the ordinary people have to suffer for the actions of their government, but that has been the Russian way of life from Czarist, Soviet and now modern times. It would nice to see a break from that "tradition" but things tend to change very little inside Russia. I guess the Russians prefer the hardship they know then the hardship they don't. ^

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/294954.html