7: Resistance Day

 Today (February 26^th) marks The Day of Resistance to Russia's Occupation of Crimea:

The Russo-Ukrainian War (Ukrainian: російсько-українська війна, Russian: российско-украинская война) has been an ongoing war between Ukraine (supported by the European Union, the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway, Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand. the United States) and Russia since February 2014 (for Crimea) and April 2014 (for Donbas) when Russia invaded, occupied and illegally annexed Crimea and invaded and occupied Donbas. Russia wants to create Novorossiya (Russian: Новороссия) or New Russia and make the former parts of the USSR Russian (Russian already occupies Transnistria in Moldova, South Ossetia in Georgia and Abkhazia in Georgia.)

3,350 Ukrainian Civilians have been killed

4,431 Ukrainian Soldiers have been killed

10,500 Ukrainian Soldiers have been wounded

5,665 Russian Soldiers have been killed (Russia has denied any Russians were killed or wounded in Ukraine yet they do have a ban on their soldiers posting on Social Media from Ukraine. They bury the dead throughout Russia in graves with fake names on them. The wounded go to hospitals throughout Russia under fake names to be treated. Their families do not receive the truth about their loved ones' death or Survivor Benefits – just like during the 1979-1989 Soviet-Afghanistan War.)

1,414,798 Ukrainian Civilians have fled Crimea and eastern Ukraine for the other regions of Ukraine.

925,500 Ukrainian Civilians have fled Ukraine for other countries.

Occupation Life: Russia has made it illegal to support anything Ukrainian (Ukrainian Language, Culture, Traditions, Way-Of-Life, etc.) in the Donbass and Crimea. Russia has made it illegal to support anything Tartar (Tartar Language, Culture, Traditions, Way-Of-Life, etc.) in Crimea. Anyone found speaking Ukrainian or Tartar or having anything to do with those cultures disappear to penal colonies in Russia. It is part of Putin’s Dictatorship and a nod to his love for the Soviet Dictatorship.

The men, women and children in Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas are forced to speak the Russian Language, use the Russian Education System, use the Russian Ruble, have Russian Internal and International Passports (although Russian Internal and International Passports and other documents issues from Crimea, Donbas and neighboring regions inside Russia are not recognized around the world) and the men are forced into the Russian Military to fight their friends and family. Russia also created a High-Tech Security Border along Crimea and Ukraine.

International Sanctions imposed on Russia, Russians and companies make it illegal to have anything to do (travel, do business, etc.) with anyone or any company in Crimea or Donbas. Penalties for those that do include: jail time, fines, refusal of Visas, revocation of business licenses, etc.

Ukraine not only continues to fight for their illegally occupied territory back (which they call “Temporarily Occupied territories of Ukraine”), but has gone from a deadly Dictatorship under former President Viktor Yanukovych – who fled and now lives in Russia) to a burgeoning Democracy in just 7 short years. Ukrainians even have Visa-Free Travel to the European Union since 2017 (Russians do not.)

Russia has suffered years from Putin’s War in Ukraine. Due to the Self-Isolation imposed by Putin and the International-Imposed Sanctions Russia’s rank on most International Indexes (Standard of Living, Freedom, Ability to Free Travel, Democracy, Health Care, etc.) has fallen every year since 2014.

The Russian Male Life Expectancy has gone down to 67 years (for reference the US Male Life Expectancy is 76 years), the Russian Ruble has fallen Internally and Internationally leading to Russia’s Standard of Living being the lowest since the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991.  By mid-2016, Russia had lost an estimated $170 billion due to financial sanctions, with another $400 billion in lost revenues from oil and gas and the financial lost of both has only gone down. That has made basic goods across Russia to cost more and the number of ordinary Russians living below the Poverty Line to also go up.

Russia continues to spend most of what little money it has on fighting in Donbas and supplying Crimea (the Kerch Bridge, Electricity, Water, Soldiers, etc.) than it does within Russia or on ordinary Russians. The result is the same situation that the USSR faced in the 1980s-1991 right before it collapsed: a tightly controlled Dictatorship that spends more on the Military and Arms to fight outside of their country while their own citizens struggle for basic items at home.