The riots began in Ukraine because they wanted to get a bit of distance from Russia, now they look like they’re being invaded by them. More than 6,000 Russian troops have moved in and taken over important buildings, key posts and airports and installed road blocks. The Russians have pretty much taken over the state without firing a shot.

Crimea is legally part of Ukraine and Russia backed this decision when pledging to uphold the territorial integrity of Ukraine in a memorandum signed in 1994. The pledge was also signed by the US, UK and France. That means we’re sort of involved a bit too.

It’s difficult to know how Crimeans themselves feel about this heavily armed influx. Some reports on the BBC tell of people feeling genuinely nervous about the intrusion which is fully understandable, especially for non-Russian citizens. On the other hand, a number of Russian websites are showing pictures like the ones above and below where Crimeans are welcoming the Russian troops like heroes. I suppose the obvious answer is that everyone has their own take on the confusing situation.

One Crimean chap told the BBC “I am Russian and I fear this could turn into another Abkhazia scenario. I oppose Crimea being part of Ukraine… I don’t trust any Ukrainian politicians or parties. I don’t want Russia to intervene either, I want Crimea to be independent”.

Western powers have condemned the takeover but so far military intervention seems unlikely.

We will just have to wait this out and see what happens next. Crimea has been a tinder box for hundreds of years for a variety of reasons and its highly flammable status seems set to get drier and hotter.

With Putin and his troops on the move it’s hard to see how this will end well. He still considers Crimea as rightfully Russian. A straight withdrawal would look like a failure and that is not Putin’s vibe at all.

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