Ukraine and Russia Conflict Notes

http://www.bbc.com

Since the conflict began, nearly 900,000 people have fled their homes, of whom nearly
400,000 went to Russia, the UN said in its new report, which covers the period up to 31
October.

2-3 November 2014: Separatists in eastern Ukraine elect new leaders in polls backed by
Russia and denounced by the West. President Poroshenko accuses the rebels of
jeopardising "the entire peace process" and says Ukrainian forces should prepare defences
against separatist attack.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Russias parliament voted to admit Crimea last week, and Putin signed a law to complete
the process. But Russia had been moving to take the peninsula, and it took control of
several Ukrainian military bases.
There were problems before Ukraine and Russia started fighting over Crimea. Ukrainians
were trying to decide whether they should be closer to Russia or to Europe.
Most people in Crimea wanted to break away from Ukraine and join Russia.
President Obama says that Crimeas vote to leave Ukraine is illegal and that Russias
annexation of Crimea is an illegitimate move that means Russia had no right to do
it. Obama announced punishments which are called sanctions against Russia and
said more might be possible in the future. European leaders have also done the same.

http://www.cnn.com/

A treaty between the neighboring nations allows Russia to have up to 25,000 troops in
Crimea, Russia's U.N. envoy said Monday, adding that Yanukovych requested that Russia
send military forces.
Tensions are mounting as Russian troops step up their presence in Ukraine's Crimean
peninsula and world leaders push for a diplomatic solution to the escalating crisis.

http://www.haaretz.com/

Crimea was absorbed into the Russian empire along with most of ethnic Ukrainian
territory by Catherine the Great in the 18th century. Russia's Black Sea naval base at
Sevastopol was founded soon afterwards.
Crimea only became part of Ukraine when Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave the
peninsula to his native land in 1954. This hardly mattered until the Soviet Union broke up
in 1991 and Crimea ended up in an independent Ukraine.
The 1991 fall of the Soviet Union also brought the return of the Crimean Tatars, the
native hosts of the land that fell to Russia under Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
The Crimean Tatars, who now make up about 12 percent of its population, have sided
with the anti-Yanukovych protesters in Kiev who drove his government from power.