Sorry I had a genuine interest in your response. I was not trying to be provocative. I worked with a lad from Ukraine. He was someone with a real genuine nature. The kind of person you could never see anyone saying a bad word against. So far all I have no family in the warzone, I do feel for the people living there. I am not anti-Russian, but I am very much against the regime in power there.
What the paper did say was that there were people in Crimea who had Russian bias. It would be naïve to think there were no people who were pro-Russian. I would have been very interested to hear if her view had changed especially being within the western media viewing range. That is to say a view on how propaganda has had an affect on her opinion. I think it is fair to say the referendum Putin held was not a fair one.
What I find sad is that Crimea will never be the same again. It is a lost culture. Putin will have removed anyone who is pro-Ukraine from the area, so any future votes will never show how it should actually be. That is regardless of the voting process and checks around it. Ukraine will undoubtedly evict any people who have shown bias with the current occupation. Crimea will end up in the hands of whoever wins the peace.
I have seen footage of people from the Donbass region that has since been repatriated to Ukraine. They were not very happy with the lack of support Russia gave them. They were literally caught in no man’s land for years on end. You could not state if they were still pro-Russian or pro-Ukraine because of the regime change. Their composure definitely looked beaten and just wanted the situation to be over. I personally don’t think they cared who had control.