COMMUNITY
began destroying monuments to Vladimir Lenin.
The protests continued
into 2014. While much of
the world’s attention was
fixated on the Olympics
in Sochi in February, dozens of people were killed
in clashes with police. On
February 20, the Ukrainian
government authorized
police to use live rounds,
not just rubber bullets, in
dealing with protesters.
On February 21, Ukraine’s
parliament voted to impeach Yanukovych. A
new government was
formed in Ukraine under
acting prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Yulia Tymoshenko was released
from prison and joined the
Euromaidan movement.
The 2004-10 constitution
was restored. If this were
a movie, you’d fade out
here and roll the credits.
But it’s not.
Yanukovych, who is disliked in western Ukraine
but remains popular in
eastern, Russian-speaking
Ukraine, fled to Russia.
Russia’s president Vladimir
Putin stated that he con-
sidered Yanukovych’s impeachment to be illegal,
the current government
of Ukraine to be illegitimate, and that all treaties
between Russia and the
previous regime in Ukraine
no longer applied.
vote is illegal. Russia, however, recognizes the vote
as legitimate and says its
troops will stay in Crimea.
Local television stations
have been shut down,
two being replaced by
Russian state television.
The next stage of the
drama is taking place
in Ukraine’s southeastern peninsula of Crimea,
largely populated by
Russian speakers. Russian
troops moved into Crimea
in the tens of thousands
and took control as of
February 26. Soon thereafter, Crimea adopted a
resolution to declare independence from Ukraine,
with the option to join with
Russia.
The European Union has
now suspended some
talks with Russia. The G7
(G8 nations minus Russia) have issued a joint
statement condemning
Russia’s actions and suspended preparations for
a G8 meeting that was
to take place in Sochi this
June.
On March 16, a referendum took place in
Crimea, with an apparent
95.5% in support of Crimea
joining Russia. The Ukrainian parliamen Ёͅ