Crimea has been part of Russia for centuries — James Bailey
Monday’s State Journal had an excellent Associated Press article about Ukraine, “Kyiv to deploy troops in east.” The writer included a statement, mentioned by many journalists in articles about that terrible situation, about the Russian “takeover of the Crimean Peninsula.”
The Empress Catherine the Great II took Crimea from the Turks in 1783. Since then Crimea has always been part of Russia. In 1921 Ukraine became a separate republic in the Soviet Union. In 1954 Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, on his own, suddenly gave Crimea to Ukraine.
The majority of the people living in Crimea to this day are Russian. Russian friends I have written or talked to all say it has always been part of Russia.
Tartars also lived in Crimea. In 1945 they were exiled to Central Asia because they aided German forces during World War II. They have been trying to return to their “homeland.”
— James Bailey, Madison, professor emeritus, UW-Madison Slavic Department