Analysis of Crimea's Historical Context

When they tell you Crimea was stolen, annexed, invaded, they

never mention the background as to how it became so-called

Ukrainian in the first place. Back in 1954,

Nikita Khrushchev handed Crimea from Russia to

Ukraine. No vote, 15 minutes in a committee room,

and it's done.

A gift for an anniversary, the administrative transfer

between two Soviet republics didn't mean much at the time.

Crimea had been Russian for centuries.

Sevastopol was the Black Sea Fleet for the Soviet Navy, which would

become the Russian Navy. None of that mattered.

Then the Soviet Union dissolved, and that bit of paperwork

became sacred international law.

Skip to 2014, the government in Kiev falls, the

peninsula rebels, and holds its own referendum to join

Russia. But the West calls it illegal, even though

95% of Crimeans called Russia's arrival

a homecoming.