Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine ... the SECOND question on the proposed referendum would be whether Crimea should return to the wide autonomy it enjoyed under a previous 1992 constitution, which gave it de facto independence. Crimea is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet and had been part of Russia since 1783 ... before Soviet leader Khrushchev, who was half Ukrainian, transferred it to Ukraine as a “gift” in 1954. The move was largely meaningless during Soviet times, as both Ukraine and Russia were republics in the Soviet Union ... (Khrushchev was deposed in 1964). (The Wall Street Journal)
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 00:19:37 +0000