Crimea votes to secede from Ukraine and join Russia

[Dakine10 5,452]

No surprises, I guess. Although considering Crimea is 60% ethnic Russian, the 93% figure is pretty high. Looks like the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians don't like the crazies in Kiev either.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26599776

Crimea votes in referendum

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Key Points

• Crimea votes on whether to rejoin Russia or stay with Ukraine
• Exit poll says around 93% of people voted in favour of joining Russia, news agencies report
• Election officials say 44.27% turned up to vote in the first six hours
• EU and US say referendum is illegal and threaten sanctions on Russia
• All times GMT

Edited March 16, 2014 by Dakine10

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

That vote count was complete last night. It's how Russia rolls.

[Karee 4,191]

That vote count was complete last night. It's how Russia rolls.

[Dakine10 5,452]

That vote count was complete last night. It's how Russia rolls.

Yeah, except as I told you along along, they don't need to. Everybody there know the puppets in Kiev are controlled by facists. You really don't understand how much the people there hate nazi's I guess.

Your buddy messed this one up bad. Ukraine better get it together before they lose Donetsk and Kharkiv and the eastern region too.

[Dakine10 5,452]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/14/russia-warning-fatal-clashes-ukraine-donetsk-protect-compatriots

Russia issues warning after fatal clashes in Ukraine city of Donetsk

Moscow declares right to 'protect compatriots' and accuses Kiev over violence between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian protesters

• Alec Luhn in Moscow
• theguardian.com, Friday 14 March 2014 09.02 EDT
• Jump to comments (645)

Police stand between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian crowds on Thursday in Donetsk. A 22-year-old man was stabbed to death during clashes later on. Photograph: Alexander Khudoteply/AFP/Getty Images

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine rose higher on Friday as casualties mounted from clashes between pro- and anti-Russian protesters in Donetsk and the Russian foreign ministry suggested it could intervene to protect lives.

The escalation came as the US secretary of state, John Kerry, met the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in London. Crimean residents will choose on Sunday whether to join Russia or to reinstate the constitution of 1992, under which Crimea enjoyed great autonomy from Kiev.

Donetsk, a largely Russian-speaking city in eastern Ukraine where many residents have close ties to Russia, declared a day of mourning on Friday after one person was killed and more than two dozen injured in a mass fight. The city has been the site of repeated standoffs between pro- and anti-Russian demonstrators.

On Friday, protesters from a pro-Russian demonstration fought with those from a rally "for a united Ukraine", resulting in the death of a 22-year-old man and injuries to a reported 26 people. Other reports said 28 people had been injured and that the young man had been stabbed to death.

Ukrainian media said pro-Russian protesters had attacked first, but the foreign ministry and Russian media reported that armed men had attacked peaceful pro-Russian demonstrators. In a statement released in response to the clashes, the foreign ministry said Kiev was not in control of the situation in the country and had failed to guarantee demonstrators' safety.

"Radical far-right gangs armed with traumatic firearms and clubs, who began to arrive in the city yesterday from other regions of the country, attacked peaceful protesters who came out on the streets to express their attitude towards the destructive position of the people who call themselves the Ukrainian government," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement also hinted that Russian forces could intervene in eastern Ukraine to protect Russians there, the same justification used for sending troops to occupy key facilities in Crimea.

"Russia recognises its responsibility for the lives of countrymen and fellow citizens in Ukraine and reserves the right to take people under its protection," it said.

The foreign ministry website was not working on Friday afternoon, but much of the statement was carried by Russian news agencies.

The head of Ukraine's security service wrote on his Facebook page on Friday that four people had been detained in connection with the violence in Donetsk and that "these detainments are only the beginning".

Russian troops and armoured vehicles had massed on the border with eastern Ukraine on Thursday, alarming Kiev, where the acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said in a statement that the Russian forces were "ready to intervene in Ukraine at any time".

The Russian defence ministry admitted in several statements that at least 10,000 troops had gathered in provinces along the border, but said they were there only to participate in intensive exercises. Moscow also ordered six Sukhoi-27 fighter jets and three transport planes into Belarus, located on Ukraine's northern border, to head off what the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, said was a potential Nato threat.

In response to the buildup, the German leader, Angela Merkel, warned Moscow in her strongest language yet that it risked massive political and economic damage if it refused to change course on Ukraine.

Donetsk resident Anton Nagolyuk, who was present during the clashes, said the attacks originated from the pro-Russian part of the demonstrations. The pro-Russian protesters had arrived at Lenin Square before the pro-Ukrainian ones, and police at first kept the two sides apart. The pro-Russian side threw eggs and firecrackers, and when the rally ended they started to beat pro-Ukrainian demonstrators, Nagolyuk said. The man who was killed was from the pro-Ukrainian side, he said.

"Some of the people definitely came from Russia to provoke people, but I don't know exactly how many of them there were," Nagolyuk said.

"It's true there are many Donetsk residents among the [pro-Russian demonstrators], but it seems to me the most active ones are Russian," he added.

According to Nagolyuk, many of his fellow residents fear Russia will invade their part of the country. "They were deliberately waiting for a death, an excuse to bring their troops and tanks into Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkov," he said. "It seems to me almost everyone is afraid of war and Russian troops."

Edited March 16, 2014 by Dakine10

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

[Pooky 3,825]

Yeah, except as I told you along along, they don't need to. Everybody there know the puppets in Kiev are controlled by facists. You really don't understand how much the people there hate nazi's I guess.

Your buddy messed this one up bad. Ukraine better get it together before they lose Donetsk and Kharkiv and the eastern region too.

It doesn't matter what Kiev does at this point. Those armed men without insignia were never just Crimean, or Eastern Ukrainian. The Russians have been on Ukraine soil from the start. President Putin won't stop until he has what he wants. Ukraine can do nothing to stop him.

Unless the rest of the world gets serious about those consequences that have been bandied about, the Ukraine is finished as a sovereign nation.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Ukraine is the next Georgia. It's what Russia does. They're an oppressive imperialist nation. Have been for a long, long time and it's not about to change.

Looking forward to the G-7 summit somewhere other than Sochi, though. Looks like London.

Putin needs to be isolated. The Russian oligarchs need their travel privileges revoked. When their wives can't shop in London and Miami anymore, times will get tough.

[luckytxn 2,265]

Watcha gonna do Obama?

[Dakine10 5,452]

It doesn't matter what Kiev does at this point. Those armed men without insignia were never just Crimean, or Eastern Ukrainian. The Russians have been on Ukraine soil from the start. President Putin won't stop until he has what he wants. Ukraine can do nothing to stop him.

Unless the rest of the world gets serious about those consequences that have been bandied about, the Ukraine is finished as a sovereign nation.

Whatever. I know enough Russian and Ukrainian people to know that you need to take what the idiots at BBC and CNN are saying with a grain of salt. But it really doesn't matter what anyone believes. The lesson now should be to stop screwing around with other governments, but the lesson won't be learned. Didn't learn it with Egypt. Didn't learn it with Syria and we won't learn it with Ukraine.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Ukraine is the next Georgia. It's what Russia does. They're an oppressive imperialist nation. Have been for a long, long time and it's not about to change.

Looking forward to the G-7 summit somewhere other than Sochi, though. Looks like London.

Putin needs to be isolated. The Russian oligarchs need their travel privileges revoked. When their wives can't shop in London and Miami anymore, times will get tough.

Yeah they really need to get with the times. Nowadays, you invade other countries in the name of freedom and democracy. And regime change. Everyone knows that.

Edited March 16, 2014 by Dakine10

[luckytxn 2,265]

It is supposedly noble when we do it.

Yeah they really need to get with the times. Nowadays, you invade other countries in the name of freedom and democracy. And regime change. Everyone knows that.

[Robby999 1,024]

Reminds me of the vote for ObamaCare!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yeah they really need to get with the times. Nowadays, you invade other countries in the name of freedom and democracy. And regime change. Everyone knows that.

So we shall call it the Bush-Putin doctrine now? Works for me.

[Karee 4,191]

So we shall call it the Bush-Putin doctrine now? Works for me.

You're on a roll today.