Russia's War Against Ukraine
Anton Shekhovtsov: The Crimean blockade – how Ukraine is losing Crimea for the third time
Activists hold Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar flags as they block the road at the checkpoint between Ukraine and Crimea, in Chongar, on Sept. 20.
Since the renewal of Ukraine's independence in 1991, no Ukrainian President or government had ever tried to integrate Crimea into a wider Ukrainian society. Crimea was always a special region, and not in any good sense of the word. For the :"pro-Russian", oligarch-controlled political forces, Crimea - with its predominantly Russian ethnic population - was a source of an "easy electorate" that readily provided a significant share of votes against the "pro-western" national democratic forces.
