Dubai: Crimea’s move to officially reunite with Russia drew mixed reviews from Ukrainian nationals who spoke to Gulf News on Monday.
Crimea officially applied to merge with Russia on Monday after an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted to separate from Ukraine on Sunday. Some Ukrainians living in the UAE said Crimea has the right to leave Ukraine and reunite with Russia because of its historical ties.
“A lot of people are not aware of the history of Crimea that it was actually originally part of Russia. Historically, when you say Crimea there was no Ukraine, it has always been [part of] Russia,” Lubna Hamdan, whose mother is a Ukrainian, told Gulf News.
Russia has been the dominant power in the southern Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea for most of the past two centuries since it joined the region. But in 1954, Moscow transferred power over Crimea to Ukraine, which was then part of the Soviet Union.
Lubna, who comes from the city of Lugansk, said the move to re-join Russia is logical because majority of Crimeans identify themselves as ethnic Russians.
Angelina Pozhydaiva, 21, said the Ukrainian government and the west should respect the voters’ decision.
“We have to give people their right to choose. They want to be with Russia, Why not?” Pozhydaiva, whose family is in the eastern Ukrainian city Donetsk, said.
“Ukraine can no longer be the Ukraine that it used to be. Majority of the people in Crimea want to be with Russia because historically they were part of Russia,” she added.
Pozhydaiva said she fears the situation could further worsen leading to the country being torn apart since its western part wants to be with Europe while the east wants to be with Russia.
But Elena Polischuk, a marketing director in Abu Dhabi, said there shouldn’t be any annexation since the referendum was not supported by the international community, nor was it open to international observers.
“Tomorrow, Russian Federation can invade to any neighbour state where people speak Russian (Kazakhstan, Belarus, Germany, etc). Ukraine is the young European independent state that has its constitution and right to choose its future,” Polischuk told Gulf News.
