Part 5 - Q&A with Professor of Russian Victoria Somoff

JS: Do you think the people of the Crimea want to be annexed or remain under Russia’s sphere of influence?

VS: That’s tricky. Crimea is the population of Ukraine, I think it’s the only region of Ukraine, where the majority of the population is ethnically Russian. It is pro-Russia. Even though there is 24 percent Ukrainians and originally the land belongs not to Russians and not to Ukrainians but Crimean Tartars who were forcefully deported from Crimea in 1944 by Stalin, and then prohibited from returning to Crimea. 

So now Crimean Tartars, who represent, I think, 12 percent of the area’s population, claim the land as an ethnic group and they are very anti-Russian. They have already requested the Turkish Government to interfere on their behalf. It’s somewhat unique in terms of its history, it has a complex historical background and cultural history, and its ethnic majority is Russian. 

That’s what Putin is using as a pretext, to defend the rights of the ethnic Russians, but I think his presence obscures the picture. It’s very difficult to really understand what the people of Crimea want with Russian troops being right there. And so they’ve created this temporary government of Crimea, but it was already formed with the Russian presence there. It doesn’t give a clear picture of what’s happening. 

In order to understand what the people of Crimea would want, and these are things the newly formed Ukrainian government should carefully listen to, and to understand the complexities of this region, that it is different, somewhat, to a degree from other areas, but with Russian troops there, with the pressure, with the blocked airways and blocked military bases, with soldiers in unidentified uniforms in administrative buildings, who claim that Crimea wants to be Russian, it’s not a true picture. 

In order to understand what Crimea wants, Russia has to get out of there. It’s actually two different questions. One question of Crimea’s complexity which has to be taken into account but by Ukraine. It’s a Ukrainian matter and it’s something the Ukrainian government has to decide what to do about it. What Russia is doing, it is violating international law and violating the sovereignty and integrity of another country. It has no business being there and interfering in the question of what Crimean people want. It’s between the Crimean people and the Ukrainian government. 

And then being there makes it immediately inadequate, whatever picture they’re seeing. From what I know there are monitors and representatives from international organizations coming into Crimea to try to understand what is happening because there is no way to get an understanding at all. 

The Ukrainian military has actually shown remarkable strength by not giving in to the provocation. Because it seems Putin is looking at everything for a pretext. Russia is executing full-force psychological attack there and there are many reports from journalist saying Russia is not firing shots but is not allowing the military to function. Russia is blocking the peninsula. It’s outrageous. Russia is supposed to leave and then talks can commence about Crimean complexity, about ethnic make-up, about linguistic make-up and cultural differences, but not with Russian troops there.