Originally Posted by
highflyer40
Of course they don’t. Nobody in any country has the right to say.. we identify with that country, so we are therefore now part of that country instead of this country. They are free to move to the other country. Citizens do not have a right to annex parts of their own country.
I would love to see Russia’s opinion on the matter if those areas of Russia that identify more strongly with China and Mongolia decided one day to just take their land and leave. The tanks would be rolling the very next day.
Your statement is a bit over simplified and not entirely correct. The right to self determination is enshrined in the UN charter and international law. It guaranties peoples the right to the process of self determination, but it does not guaranty the outcome, ie. full independence.
You will find that the Donbas regions initially wanted autonomy form Kiev, but still to be part of Ukraine. Now with the history of Kiev stalling, not implementing the Minsk agreements and war looming again, they are proclaiming more loudly to become part of Russia. Which will not happen.
This needs to be resolved by Kiev coming to the party and doing what they signed up to do.