There are 2 million people living in Crimea. Crimea is located in Ukraine and for many years, Russia and the Ukraine have been fighting for control over the land.
Many people think that the Russians aligning their troops means that there will be an invasion that would take place, but that’s not the case and the conflict is much deeper than that.
There are people in Crimea who do in fact want to break away from the Ukraine and join Russia. But what would that mean for the Ukraine?
In Crimea, there are the Crimeans and the Crimean Tatars. Crimeans are the majority in the area who speak Russian are in full favor of joining Russia, but the Crimean Tatars are not interested at all and this is due to fear.
In cases like this, seeing the right and wrong is very difficult to establish, especially when you see two sides carrying both.
The reason Crimean Tatars do not want to join Russia is because they are afraid of what that would mean for them.
It wasn’t until 1954 that Crimea belonged to Ukraine, before that it was Russian territory. In 1944, when Crimea still belonged to Russia, the Crimean Tatar’s suffered under Russian rule and were forced out of the territory. When Ukraine took over, Crimea Tatars returned to Crimea. So can anyone blame them if they opposed Russia to take over? Maybe, what they need is reassurance.
Russia, who set troops on the borders said that the invasion is off the table for now and that troops are there for protection in case action needed to be taken.
If Russia did take over, it might mean that they will take the Ukrainian’s gas and oil reserves along with the pipeline that run right through Crimea. But then again, Ukraine already owes Russia millions of dollars in gas and oil prices.
For Russia, Crimea is a very important place that carries a lot of history for the country, its is one of the sources of pride.
The president of Russia did allow the people of Crimea to take a vote on whether they wanted to join Russia or stay with the Ukraine, which seems reasonable but some countries like the United States consider the approach illegal.
What governments need to remember though, is that people’s choices should matter and the truth is that most of Crimea did vote in favor of Russia.
So far, it seems like Russia is starting to take control of Crimea. Whether they are wrong or right in the approach they took who knows?, but for the most part, people should be thankful that it did not escalate into a war because all that would have done is cause death and grief.
The issues between the two countries are vast, so what people can do is pick up a paper, do research and watch the news if they fully want to understand the conflict taking place and be involved in or at least be aware of the controversies of this world that everybody is a part of.
