by Tim Drayton » Mon Mar 03, 2014 10:47 am
I support the right of the Ukranian people to self-determination as much as that of any other people. However, it must be accepted that the former Soviet Republic of Ukraine was not a homogenous entity that represented purely the territory inhabited by Ukranian people, and a significant portion of this republic was populated by ethnic Russians. Crimea, in particular, was appended to Ukraine at a later stage and has never had any sort of ethnic or historical ties with Ukraine. Crimea is also of great strategic importance to Russia, which has important bases there. I would say that a territory for recognition deal is called for between Russia and Ukraine, in which Crimea and possibly other ethnically Russian parts of the former republic are ceded to Russia and in return for which Russia respects the right of the rest of Ukraine to move out of its orbit. This has to be the common sense approach.