Russia To Fete A Year With Crimea Back In The Fold
MOSCOW (AFP) -
Russia is gearing up to celebrate the one year anniversary on Monday of Crimea voting to leave Ukraine and join the Russian state in a takeover blasted as illegal in the West but seen at home as a triumph for Vladimir Putin.
The hastily organised March 16, 2014 referendum -- which Putin now admits came well after he'd already taken the decision to seize the Black Sea peninsula from Kiev -- kickstarted a bloody separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine and sent Moscow's relations with the West into a tailspin.
The move struck a deep chord with Russians, however, cementing Putin's 15-year grip on power as his approval ratings have continued to climb in the past year, hitting a record 88 percent, according to figures released last week.
The Russian strongman described the annexation of Crimea as a mission to rescue the majority Russian-speaking peninsula from Ukrainian "nationalists" who pushed out the Moscow-backed government in a pro-Western street revolt.
This played well with Russians who are themselves in increasingly nationalist mood, but was blasted in the West and by Ukraine as an aggressive land grab.
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http://www.france24.com/en/20150315-russia-fete-year-with-crimea-back-fold/
