Originally Posted by
West Coast
They were a part of a sovereign nation, Ukraine. That’s the bottom line.
Surely simplistic, the USSR had blown up and all its decisions were subject to reconsideration. There were no sovereign nations under the USSR.
Just because Khrushchev, an Ukrainian, opted to give the Ukraine management of the Crimea in the 1950s does not confer sacred title to the rulers of present day Ukraine.
It is basically 'any stick to beat the Russians with' imho.