So one day you're Ukrainian, the next you're Russian. That's the extraordinary prospect for the people of Crimea, a neglected pocket of a nation left battered and all but broke by a corrupt President and his political cronies.
In the blink of an eye, protesters rose up against a government that reneged on a plan to embrace Europe. The government brutally turned on its own. As pitched battles were fought in the capital Kiev, the Russian-friendly leadership fled their luxury villas and palaces in a mass escape to foreign exile.
Ukrainians dusted their hands, thrilled to be rid of politicians who'd robbed their country blind and ushered in a new leadership team. It was all too much for Vladimir Putin who quickly set about orchestrating the most audacious and dangerous manoeuvre since the Cold War.
He sent his troops to take Crimea and began to mass tens of thousands more soldiers on Russia's border with Ukraine.
For Putin it's as it should be. For many Crimean Russians who still remember life in the Soviet fold it's as it should be. But for many others - ethnic minorities like the Tartars who'd been evicted from Crimea before – it's here we go again.
This Foreign Correspondent documentary was originally broadcast as “Moscow Rules” on 18 March 2014.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
01:24 – Cossacks and Pro-Russian Attitudes
03:26 – Putin Moves In
04:15 – Why Crimea is Special
05:26 – “Nobody asked me if I want to change citizenship”
07:18 – Desperate for Putin’s Embrace
07:51 – “Fascist, Fascist, Fascist”
09:04 – Ethnic Ukrainians and their Fears
10:46 – Not the Only Ones Scared: A Little Known Genocide
13:11 – Sevastopol’s Sea Port
14:26 – Russia’s Dream of Crimea Restored
15:31 – Kiev Falling Apart
16:35 – Demjin Doroschenko: An Australian-Ukrainian Perspective
19:14 – Referendum Results
For more information visit Foreign Correspondent’s website:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-18/moscow-rules/5329564
https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/foreign
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