Looks like this is a big rabbit hole most of you don't even suppose to exist. :) If you have questions (literally any, regardless all that PC crap or biases) - ask me. I'll try to be as unbiased as possible. May be you will find something interesting or/and important.
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It is a very strange thing, really,
Some history: Initially it was Greek colony. Then it was occupied by Osman Empire. Later, Russian Empire took over, and Crimea become a part or it. Since that time, Crimea has mostly Russian population. After revolution Crimea had an autonomy in USSR. Crimea was written as part of Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954. Nobody cared, since Ukraine was part of USSR.
USSR used Crimea as a resort for all country. Nearly every person from nothern part of USSR spend vacation in Crimea at least once.
On USSR destruction, Crimea still was part of Ukraine. And also nobody cared, until that color revolution in Ukraine.
The thing that they don't tell you about Crimea is that Putin had very low ratings at that moment. It was really panic on the top. And somehow, he was allowed to grab the Crimea without any significant backlash from the west.
There was funny political thing - to somehow legalise all that stuff there was public referendum in Crimea about unification with Russian Federation. However, in Russian Federation referendums about nearly enything is prohibited. Especially about changing borders. So, people of Crimea on their referendum voted for the prohibition of referendums. :)
I believe that is is possible that Crimean people really voted for unification, because Russian Federation look sligtly more rich country than Ukraine after color revolution. People thought that there will be an increased flow of tourists from rich regions of Russia. And it was mostly russians who voted.
I think that really Crimea was gifted by tptb to Putin to rise his falling rating. Just imagine - some country grab foreing territory and there are no UN troops, military operations, negotiations, nothing. Just some silly pointless sanctions and little grumbling. It is impossible.
And it worked. Most Russians was really happy about return of that nostalgic piece of history. For a while. Now Crimea is a huge problem for Russia. It sucks tax money, because of multiple problems from drinking water to unemployment. Black Sea is not very good recreational resort, it is dirty and comletely dead below 10 meters due to H2S layer at bottom. Also the level of hotels, service and life is very low. However prices are high. It can't and never will compete with other resorts. Russians prefer Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and other Mediterranean sea resorts.