Russia doesn't *need* Crimea. Russia *wants* Crimea. [View all]

[Tommy_Carcetti]

This whole line about Russia needing Crimea because it's Russia's only warm weather port is pure and utter bullshit.

Russia has hundreds of miles of coastline of its own along the Black Sea. They actually held the Olympics there less than a month ago. There's plenty of port space along that coast.

The fact is, an annexed Crimea would not be continuous with Russia. And while that's not at all unheard of (think Alaska or Hawaii), nonetheless Crimea would stick out like a sore thumb given that it would be sharing its border with a country that is historically uneasy with Russian influence.

Moreover the argument that Russia has a historical claim to Crimea is due in most part to an intense policy of Russification of that region and its expelling of the native people of the area, the Tatars.

This is about Russian greed. No more, and no less.