Crimea is now part of Russia says Google maps…but only in Russia

Crimea as shown by Google Maps’ Russian service. The border with Ukraine shown in solid line reserved for borders between sovereign countries. (image from Google Maps)

Crimea is now part of Russia, according to the Russian version of Google’s map service. The change was made to reflect in the latest update and did not affect how the online giant presents the peninsula to the rest of the world.

Referendum: 93% Crimeans overwhelmingly vote to join Russia

Crimeans have voted overwhelmingly to join Russia, with Russian news agency RIA saying exit polls indicate 93 percent voted in favour of the move.

As Russian flags fluttered in the breeze and retirees grew weepy at the thought of reuniting with Russia, residents of Ukraine's Crimea region held a secession vote Sunday. 

The United States and Europe condemned the referendum as illegal, while Ukraine's new government called it a "circus" directed at gunpoint by Moscow.

Voting has commence on Crimea referendum; see the options !

Referendum options:



1. Are you in favour of the reunification of Crimea with Russia as a part of the Russian Federation?


2. Are you in favour of restoring the 1992 Constitution and the status of Crimea as a part of Ukraine?


Returning to the 1992 constitution would give Crimea's government sweeping powers to make its own laws and control its own governance, while technically remaining part of Ukraine.


It has been seen as a step towards Crimea's total independence.

Ukrine Crisis: Crimea Belongs to Russia, Putin Should Annex Eastern Ukraine Too - Fani-Kayode

           Support for Russians Gains More Momentum

 Claiming that the Crimea is not Russian is absurd and it betrays nothing but ignorance says the former Nigerian minister, Femi Fani- Kayode while reacting to the Ukrainian-Russian crisis in Crimea peninsula. 

According to Fani-Kayode; "it is rather like saying that the people of the city of Ilorin and it's environs in Kwara state and the people of Kabba, Yagba-West, Yagba-East, Mopa-Amuro, Ijumu and Kabba-Bunu local government areas in Kogi state respectively are not Yoruba and that those areas are not part of Yoruba land".

"Historically the Crimea has always been part of Russia and 70 per cent of it's population are not only ethnic Russians but they also speak nothing but the Russian language. There are also massive and substantial pockets of Russian populations in eastern Ukraine."

It is absolutely absurd for anyone to assume that the Russian Federation would sit by silently and allow the lives, the future and the fortunes of their kinsmen from those parts to be in any way threatened. I am therefore in total agreement with the actions of President Vladimir Putin of Russia in the Crimea. 

The former Minister said Russian Putin has done the proper thing in protecting the Russians' interests and that he need to go further to annex the Eastern Ukraine as well.

Crimea Latest: Russian Putin Says He And Obama Has No Common Gground On Ukraineian Crisis

Presidents fail to find common ground during second phone call in six days on escalating crisis

Russia and the US are still stuck in a stalemate on Ukraine but relations between the two countries should not be sacrificed because of their differences, Vladimir Putin has said after a phone call with Barack Obama.
President Putin's remarks were carried in a Kremlin statement issued on Friday, following the Thursday night telephone call with President Obama, the Reuters news agency reported.

"The discussion revealed the differences in the approaches and assessments of the crisis and current situation," the statement said.

During the one-hour call the US leader urged his Russian counterpart to engage with diplomatic efforts to defuse a crisis that began with anti-government protests in November and this week escalated with a threat of secession in the strategically-important peninsula of Crimea after armed men seized government buildings and military installations.

US set to support Ukraine, send fighter jets to fly to Poland for training drill

As Ukrainian, Russian crisis deepen in the Ukrainian region of Crimea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said there was so far no agreement between Moscow and Washington on  the situation in Ukraine, after talks in Rome with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Therefore, US military has also concluded plans of sending 12 F-16 fighter jets to Poland for a training exercise, Polish media reported.

US fighter jets will arrive at the Lask base, in central Poland, on Monday, the online versions of the Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita newspapers reported.  A Polish defence ministry spokesman said he could not confirm the reports.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday it would intensify defence training with Poland in the light of the crisis in neighbouring Ukraine. [Reuters]

Ukraine's parliament has also began a procedure to dissolve the regional assembly in Crimea after it asked to join Russia, Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said. 

"The Rada (parliament in Kiev) will begin the procedure for dissolution," Turchynov said hours after the assembly in the tense peninsula adopted a motion to become part of the Russian Federation. [AFP]

U.S. Secretary of State, Foreign Secretary and Ukraine Foreign Minister Meet in Paris

            Press Statement on the Budapest Memorandum Meeting

Diplomatic source confirmed that Kerry, Hague and eshchytsia hold direct talks on Ukraine crisis in Paris today and have issued a joint statement reminding the Russian Federation of the Budapest Memorandum, the 1994 agreement signed by the Governments of the U. S. A., the U. K. and Russia. 

 

 The joint statement reads: