Ukraine: Moscow Rules

So one day you’re Ukrainian, the next you’re Russian. That’s the extraordinary prospect for the people of Crimea, a neglected pocket of a nation left battered and all but broke by a corrupt President and his political cronies.

In the blink of an eye, protesters rose up against a government that reneged on a plan to embrace Europe. The government brutally turned on its own. As pitched battles were fought in the capital Kiev, the Russian-friendly leadership fled their luxury villas and palaces in a mass escape to foreign exile.

Ukrainians dusted their hands, thrilled to be rid of politicians who’d robbed their country blind and ushered in a new leadership team. It was all too much for Vladimir Putin who quickly set about orchestrating the most audacious and dangerous manoeuvre since the Cold War.

He sent his troops to take Crimea and began to mass tens of thousands more soldiers on Russia’s border with Ukraine.

For Putin it’s as it should be. For many Crimean Russians who still remember life in the Soviet fold it’s as it should be. But for many others – ethnic minorities like the Tartars who’d been evicted from Crimea before– it’s here we go again.

As the diplomatic frenzy unfolds and threats are issued to freeze Russian assets and the foreign holdings of Russian billionaires, Foreign Correspondent’s Eric Campbell hunkers down in Crimea to watch an epic arm-wrestle play out.

America and Europe claim this is a despicable land-grab and a denial of democracy that cannot and will not be tolerated. Putin claims he’s protecting Russia and ethnic Russians in Crimea from the perils of ultra-nationalists and fascists who’ve taken over the reins of government in Kiev.

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