SITUATION IN UKRAINE AND THE ROOT CAUSE OF CRISIS IN CRIMEA-DM Varun

The legality of the referendum in Crimea that supposedly allowed the people of that Ukrainian province to approve the transfer of its sovereignty to Russia. But it also speculated that the "overwhelming .majority of…Crimean's seemed to regard [the annexation of Crimea by Russia] as the righting of a historical anomaly," without citing any evidence. Indeed, because the western media are treating Vladimir Putin's physical take-over of Crimea as a fait accompli, they seem to regard the referendum as an ancillary procedure – whether or not it fairly ascertained the views of the majority of Crimean's. If the referendum did not mirror the wishes of Crimean voters, and if conditions in Crimea deteriorate as they did in Abkhazia and South Ossetia – two former pieces of the Soviet Union that Vladimir Putin chose to retrieve from Georgia - then perhaps, in the next six months or a year, the annexation might look less attractive not only for the majority of Ukrainians and Tatars living in Crimea but for ethnic Russians as well. This is even more likely to happen if an attractive arrangement is penned between Ukraine and the EU; then Crimean's' regret may intensify if, as expected, the new local elite begins driving luxurious cars, building extravagant residences and otherwise mimicking the lifestyle that Moscow's supported ruling partners such as Victor Yanukovych have found .Ukrainians freed themselves from a corrupt and increasingly autocratic president through a campaign of civil resistance sustained over three months that was quite similar to the Orange Revolution in 2004. In both cases highly disruptive but nonviolent tactics including protests, sit-ins, and boycotts led to defections in the military and among other key Yanukovych political supporters. Assuming Putin does not seek to cleanse Crimea of its non-ethnic Russians, what would the west do if the current Crimean population began a campaign of civil resistance to reverse the referendum? Typically, authoritarian rulers reject the idea that outsiders have the right to interfere, based on the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Ukraine has been staunch on its insistence that the actions taken by Russia in annexing Crimea are in violation of international law that Crimea is fundamentally still a part of Ukraine. There have been a range of international responses, with a non-binding UNGA resolution passes condemning the referendum as being illegal. In March of 2014, a US-sponsored resolution was put forward to a vote in the Security Council that would have reaffirmed Ukraine's territorial. The aggressive actions taken by Russia in this situation have led many to speculate on its changing position in global affairs and its role in international dialogue going forward and the NATO forces that they believe Russia has deployed nuclear-capable weaponry into the Crimea and finally the United Nations General Assembly passed a  Resolution 68/262 adopted to affirm the territorial integrity of Ukraine and invalidated the 2014 Crimean referendum.