© Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP
Crimeans gather with Russian and Crimea flags, Sevastopol, Crimea, March 14, 2018.
Eva Bartlett traveled to Crimea to see firsthand out how Crimeans have fared since 2014 when their country reunited with Russia, and what the referendum was really like.
In early August I traveled to Russia for the first time, partly out of interest in seeing some of the vast country with a tourist's eyes, partly to do some journalism in the region. It also transpired that while in Moscow I was able to
interview Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry.
High on my travel list, however, was to
visit Crimea and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) — the former a part of Russia, the latter an autonomous republic in the east of Ukraine, neither accurately depicted in Western reporting. Or at least that was my sense looking at independent journalists' reports and those in Russian media.
Both regions are native Russian-speaking areas; both opted out of Ukraine in 2014. In the case of Crimea, joining Russia (or actually rejoining, as most I spoke to in Crimea phrased it)
was something people overwhelmingly supported. In the case of the Donbass region, the turmoil of
Ukraine's Maidan coup in 2014 set things in motion for the people in the region to declare independence and form the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.
Comment: More than a bit bizarre considering how well known it is that most European countries are on lockdown with very few travelling at the moment. They may be mentally deranged or that whoever is behind this is hoping that it will be a 'gentle' reminder that 'terrorism' is ever present. I guess we'll see whether this is just the beginning.
See also: Knife wielding man shot dead by police in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on the same day of a similar incident in France