- Title: USA: New York's Russian population split on Crimea
- Date: 17th March 2014
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MARCH 17, 2014) (REUTERS) PAN FROM RUSSIANS ON SIDEWALK TO BRIGHTON BEACH SIGN VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AND SHOPS AT BRIGHTON BEACH (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING [ROUGH TRANSLATION]: "This reminds me of fascism in 1939 in Germany" (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RITA SAYING [ROUGH TRANSLATION]: "Putin is a criminal. He needs to be shot o
- Embargoed: 1st April 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2IJ8W6GYS8RHLSN8A5LCFSI4Q
- Story Text: As the international crisis over Crimea continues to play out on the diplomatic stage, residents in the Russian community in New York remain split on developments.
"I saw the Crimea should stay with Ukraine because it's Ukrainian territory and Russia's trying to get it back, but I think it's really unreasonable. At this point, Russia is just trying take part of a different country which shouldn't be letted [sic] by different countries," explained Sergei Chupryna, a young Russian living in Brooklyn.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday (March 17) recognizing the region as a sovereign state - a move that heightens the most serious East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War, following a disputed referendum in the Black Sea peninsula on Sunday in which Crimea's leaders declared a Soviet-style, 97-percent vote to secede from Ukraine.
That would dismember Ukraine, a former Soviet republic once under Moscow's thumb, against its will. Kiev and the West said the referendum, held under armed Russian occupation, violated Ukraine's constitution and international law.
In reaction the United States and European Union slapped personal sanctions on Russian and Crimean officials.
"I am waiting for that. I expected that but still they've done not to much from the USA government to help Ukraine. I hope. I live in hope they'll do that," said Gregory Betser, a Ukrainian who has lived in the U.S. in Brighton Beach for almost 20 years.
In the section of New York known as 'Little Russia by the Sea', where signs are in Cyrillic and Russian is the language on the street, opinions were split on who was in the right.
"Putin is a criminal. He needs to be shot or executed. He's an occupier. He destroyed Russia and he's going to destroy Ukraine," said Rita.
"It was done on purpose by Yanukovich and he sold it to Putin. Of course, it's unfortunate but I'm sure they're going to get Kharkov and Odessa next," added Rita's companion Ludmilla, both of whom have lived in the U.S. for over a decade.
Still, many in Brighton Beach sided with the Russian position or at least understood and accepted it.
"Predominantly, this is native Russian population over there. They live over there and Crimea was always Russian," said Isaac Edel, who was born and raised in Kiev and lived half his life there before coming to the U.S.
"I am from Donetsk. Donetsk is a Russian part of Ukraine. It was. . . when I used to live there it was a question if we want to be with Russia or with Ukraine. That time we decided to be with Ukraine, but still more that 70 percent I think is Russian people there," said Andrei Shmulyarenko.
The Ukrainian expat also added that he thought it would be best for his country to smooth out relations with Russia since the U.S. and E.U. were too far away.
"I left this country twenty years ago, but I think they should be with Russia. That's my opinion. They should be with Russia because Europe and United States are too far from that area. You know what I mean? It's the closest country."
Russian forces took control of Crimea in late February following the toppling of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich after deadly clashes between riot police and protesters trying to overturn his decision to spurn a trade and cooperation deal with the E.U. in favor of cultivating closer ties with Russia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None