Crimea

[bryant.coleman]

The continuity of the European Union support for the US is in doubt. Elections are due in less than two weeks time, and opinion polls indicate that the far-right and the far-left are poised to make big gains, especially in countries such as France, Netherlands and Austria. Both the extreme-left and the extreme-right are not supportive of the US policy on Ukraine. We might see some sort of a compromise... may be resulting in the recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia.

[Balthazar]

Don't forget about NATO, NATO troops are able to perform some democratical corrections just like Warsaw Pact troops did in 1968.

[niothor]

Don't forget about NATO, NATO troops are able to perform some democratical corrections just like Warsaw Pact troops did in 1968.

Since you mentioned '68 , I think that Romanian troops will stay out of it just like we did back then .

[Nemo1024]

Some interesting news regarding Crimea:

Putin said that it is not defensible to involve Crimean people in the discussions between Russia and Ukraine:
http://itar-tass.com/politika/1191437?utm_medium=rss20

Hrivna will stop being circulated in Crimea and Sevastopol from the 1st of June:
http://www.interfax.ru/russia/376507

All public demonstrations and are prohibited in Crimea until the 6th of June, citing unrest in the South-Eastern regions of Ukraine and the desire to prevent any provocations:
http://www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1802523.html

[bryant.coleman]

Getting disappointed with Putin. He is running after the Crimean Tatars, trying to appease them, while civilians are being butchered by the Right Sector neo-Nazis in Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts.

Putin tells Crimean Tatars their place is in Russia

http://www.news-republic.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=3&articleid=23159319

[niothor]

Some interesting news regarding Crimea:

Putin said that it is not defensible to involve Crimean people in the discussions between Russia and Ukraine:
http://itar-tass.com/politika/1191437?utm_medium=rss20

Hrivna will stop being circulated in Crimea and Sevastopol from the 1st of June:
http://www.interfax.ru/russia/376507

All public demonstrations and are prohibited in Crimea until the 6th of June, citing unrest in the South-Eastern regions of Ukraine and the desire to prevent any provocations:
http://www.regnum.ru/news/polit/1802523.html

Interesting...
It would be really interesting to see if they will increase the monetary base or not with this move.

[Nemo1024]

Crimean integration into Russian monetary system is in full swing, this turned up today as well:

Crimea's biggest banks switch to Sberbank payment system
http://rt.com/business/159408-crimea-banks-sberbank-system/

The Crimean banks chose the PRO100 payment system amid the urgent situation with card payments on the peninsula and the need to take quick action, Kommersant says. Russia’s National Commercial Bank isn’t a member of international payment systems like Visa and MasterCard, while the other two can neither service their existing cards nor issue new ones.

An on completely unrelated topic, Russian patent office received registration request for trademark „Зeлeныe чeлoвeчки“ ("Green People"). The request comes from an individual businessman Ignat Ivanov.
http://www.forbes.ru/news/257513-rospatent-poluchil-zayavku-na-registratsiyu-brenda-zelenye-chelovechki

Earlier, the Ministry of Defence trademarked "Polite People", announcing release of a fashion line under this brand.

 

[bryant.coleman]

Crimean integration into Russian monetary system is in full swing, this turned up today as well

They need to complete this as quickly as possible. The ATMs in Crimea are running out of money and the common people are facing a lot of hardship. Hope this will alleviate the problems.

[Sithara007]

Well , they should all claim independence .
Autonomous villages.

The Russian government recently tried to lure back some of the ethnic Germans who had emigrated to Germany during the 1990s. Don't know how much successful it was.

[Nemo1024]

Terrorist #1 Yarosh said that to return Crimean a full-scale guerilla war needs to be launched:
http://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/20140518044818.shtml
He plans to conduct disruptive guerilla - read terrorist - operation on the territory of Crimea to coerce it back to Ukraine. For the he plans to use what he calls the "Tatar factor".
Interestingly Crimean Tatars had fewer freedoms and rights under Ukraine, yet Yarosh views them as "friendly factor". Does he mean Turkish imam insurgents?

[bryant.coleman]

The control over a large part of the Black Sea has been changed to the Russian hands, after the annexation of Crimea.

[Balthazar]

http://www.yaplakal.com/forum11/topic788593.html

 

[Nemo1024]

http://www.yaplakal.com/forum11/topic788593.html

 

To quickly explain: Licence plates in Crimea currently have Moscow region code on them. People say, the first 50000 plates are a present from Moscow, and congratulate each other on becoming Muscovites  

[Nemo1024]

Crimean Tatars mourn on anniversary of 1944 deportation
http://rt.com/news/line/2014-05-19/#61888

Crimean Tatars gathered in Simferopol's Ak-Mechet district on Sunday, marking the 70th anniversary since the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944. The Crimean Tatars’ unofficial representative body, Mejlis, organized the event, despite Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov announcing a ban on mass gatherings in the region until June 9. Participants held banners with slogans saying "Eternal memory of victims of Crimean Tatar people genocide" and "Right for self-determination is an inalienable right of indigenous people.” People also chanted the name of Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemliev, along with the slogan "Nation! Motherland! Crimea!" Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed a decree officially rehabilitating Crimean Tatars in Crimea as part of the peninsula's integration into Russia. In 1944, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered the forcible deportation of Crimean Tatars from the region after accusing them of collaborating with Nazi occupiers during World War II.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmOnvSJOIMQ

I don't hear about their gathering being dispersed despite being unsanctioned. Under Ukrainian rule they didn't have such freedom of speech.
Well, they should also send a note to Georgia, as it was a Georgian Dzhugashvili who deported them....

[Balthazar]

http://www.yaplakal.com/forum11/topic788593.html

 

To quickly explain: Licence plates in Crimea currently have Moscow region code on them. People say, the first 5000 plates are a present from Moscow, and congratulate each other on becoming Muscovites  

P.S. ~50000 plates with 77 and 777 codes were recently sent to Crimea.

[bryant.coleman]

Newly minted 10 Russian Ruble coin with Crimea and Sevastopol:

[bryant.coleman]

Demographic situation in Republic of Crimea (i.e excluding Sevastopol) for the first quarter of 2014.

Births: 5,317 (down 5.1%)
Deaths: 7,553 (up 10.7%)
Natural Decline: 2,236 people.

http://zemfort1983.livejournal.com/320787.html

[Nemo1024]

Russia will transfer 5 more ships from Crimea to Ukraine. That will include three tugs, one trailer and one inshore boat:
http://www.vz.ru/news/2014/5/20/687547.html

I have a feeling Russia simply does not want to dismantle those boats themselves

A fun picture to accompany the news item:

[bryant.coleman]

The Kiev junta claims that more then 6,000 Ukrainian citizens who are residing in the Crimean peninsula will take part in the May 25 Ukrainian presidential elections. 

[Nemo1024]

The Kiev junta claims that more then 6,000 Ukrainian citizens who are residing in the Crimean peninsula will take part in the May 25 Ukrainian presidential elections. 

Good for them. Ukraine also has a few thousand citizens residing in Spain, Italy and US. So what? Italy must be proclaimed a part of Ukraine now?