nickschifrin

Well, as always, both sides have points. Crimea was Russia until 1954. But it was given away by Khrushchev to Ukraine. That was just an administrative detail -- until the Soviet Union collapsed, and suddenly Crimea was part of an independent Ukraine. The majority of Crimeans never wanted that. And some are suggesting today that Putin is trying to undo what Khrushchev did. Is the Kiev government illegal? No. Former president Yanokovych fled, he was effectively impeached, and the legally elected parliament chose a new caretaker government. But did Yanokovych flee after being threatened, as Russia points out? Yes. Can Crimea secede legally? Well, I'm not a lawyer, but what the West says is that the current Crimean Prime Minister was elected by a parliament while pro-Russian troops pointed their weapons at lawmakers -- and that before the vote, the prime minister only had 4% support. Therefore, the referendum that the prime minister has moved very very quickly to hold is not legitimate, no matter what the vote is. There are also concerns about intimidation that would limit the involvement of Crimeans who don't support Russia. As for the land grab/territorial integrity point -- there is no getting around the fact Crimea is part of Ukraine, and it is now being occupied by Russian troops.

In my experience here over the last few weeks, the majority of Crimeans feel more Russian than Ukrainian. That means, in general, they support the Russian presence. Polls and demographic numbers suggest the split is about 60/40 in favor of people who lean Russian. That is for a few reasons: historic connection to the Soviet Union and Russia; large cultural and language differences between Ukrainians from Crimea and Ukrainians from Kiev and the western half of the country; feelings that the Kiev government has always disregarded the needs of people in Crimea. Many of those who support Russia are ethnic Russians; many of those who oppose Russia are Crimean Tatars. For the people who feel Russian, they believe the new government in Kiev is illegal and a product of either a coup or radicals' overthrowing the old government. Many of them watch Russian TV, which encourages the idea that protestors in Kiev have already arrived in Crimea (no evidence to suggest that's true). For the people who feel connected to Kiev, they feel more connected to Europe and don't trust Putin or Russia.

The pressure doesn't come from Russia -- it comes from pro-Russia activists and militants in Crimea. We have seen multiple threats on journalists here. At least two journalists have been kidnapped by pro-Russian activists. I interviewed another journalist who was beaten up by pro-Russian militia members outside a Ukrainian army base. The AP video team was held at gunpoint and their equipment stolen. And my team and I were held by an angry group of about 150 pro-Russian activists outside another Ukrainian army base. They slashed our tires, threatened to tip our van over and take our equipment until we agreed to show them our video from inside the base. After about 2.5 hours they let us leave -- but they escorted us to the equivalent of the county line. The reason for this intimidation is they believe journalists are anti-Russian and "spreading lies" about Russia's presence here. They argue we are all pro-Kiev and pro-Europe. They target journalists as part of an information war that you can also see on the airwaves in Crimea: pro-Kiev channels have been pulled off the air, and Russian TV (which the majority of Crimeans watch) is filled with messages in support of troops in Crimea and against the new government in Kiev.

In Israel, many are hostile to Al Jazeera. In Crimea, pro-Russians treat me better than if I still worked for ABC. There's hostility toward American channel names; they don't seem to think positively or negatively to an Arab channel name, and so I get better access to pro-Russian crowds.

I think the Russian troops presence has emboldened pro-Russian activists and militias. They have become more aggressive against anyone who opposes them. I think it's too early to know how that will play out in the future. But minorities are certainly worried about it.