Chris, this is your opinion. As much as I hate that Rissian illegally annexed Crimea, I have also heard from of residents there that in some ways things got better in Crimea. I am NOT supporting Moscow, I am stating facts that you and many who haven't lived in these societies for decades aren't aware of. I have heard from dozens of pensioners living in occupied parts of Ukraine, who are Ukrainians, "well, finally I am now getting my pension on time each month and it is actually more than it was when Kyiv was paying." Russia is masterfully winning people over, like the elderly, who want nothing but to go back to feeding their chickens and tending their gardens. Moscow or Kyiv is irrelevant to them.