What was the purpose for Russia annexing Crimea?

What was the purpose for Russia annexing Crimea?
It has no oil, no financial importance, no nothing, just another peninsula in the Slavic fields.
>inb4 russkike (aka pajeet) tells me how crimea was justified in broken english

crimea is rusia im 1954, ukreine steel crimea im rusia steel back cyka blayt goot fuckker.

It allowed to pass a pack of some crazy peopl-cucking laws while proles were busy watching TV.

Other than that... none.

Testing the waters to see what the USA reaction would be.

doesn't it have an important black sea port allowing Mediterranean access?

just forget the massive naval and army base, the one that lets russia have a black sea fleet. literally nothing at all is there.

Gives Russia better naval control of the Black Sea

Literally important for who?
May I remind you where does anyone in Russian government actually live? Practically all of them keep money and families in Europe and the US. Wich means any of le confrontation with the west memes is pure cuckery.

It was a dick measuring contest. They won.

Crimea river puns

It gives them an incredibly valuable and historically significant Naval base at Sevastapol.

>annexing

reuniting

The same, if anything much gentler, as if some country were to try go take over the United States Navy. EuroMaidan was an act of war. Soros and his ilk use "protesters" like Hitler did in Czechia but without the Wehrmacht backing them up.

Geostrategy.

Crimea is one of the main entry points to Russia, if it's under the control of a foreign power then that puts Russia at risk of invasion.

Ukraine looked like it was going to join the European Union, potentially putting Crimea in the hands of a federal European state that would probably not be friendly to Russia.

So Russia moved to capture Crimea before Europe/NATO could meaningfully intervene.

Mostly a political message to show that "we will not back down". Crimea had been with Russia for centuries up until Khrushchev re-assigned it to the Ukrainian SSR in the 1950s. however this wasn't in mind with the USSR ever collapsing. It would be akin to if Texas received some land as part of the U.S but then seceded and kept land that usually belonged to the U.S. There was also threat of Russia being kicked out of the base they were sitting at.

Most Crimeans identify as being Russian, because there were many re-location efforts to "Russianize" the area.

Crimea also had semi-separate status from Ukraine for several years as an autonomous republic.

So for the people saying "it's illegal!" I would like to point out:

1.) the USSR collapse was illegal
2.) whatever they wrote for Crimea at the time was illegal
3.) the coup of a democratically elected president, Yanukovych, was illegal (especially with outside Western support)

Illegal actions sometimes take illegal responses.

Black sea fleet needs Crimean naval base. Its absolutely critical for Russian navy's abilities. Russians were even paying money to Ukrainians to use it.

When Ukraine switched to pro-NATO mode, Russians had two choices: give the base to NATO (who would probably mount missile pointed at Russia on Crimea as bonus) or take it.

This tbqh, and it's advantageous to have a war-torn shithole as a buffer between You and your adversary, like between Iran and Israel. Besides, Ukraine can never join the EU now.

The Naval base would be the main reason I can think of.

Well then for the importance of projecting strength in order to do the same thing western governments do... create bullshit excuses to raid the treasury for more military spending to get rich..

we do it surely your oligarchs who make munitions, submarines and war ships will be pushing their hands out to have the state buy their shit to protect you from their counterparts in the west.

I heard a theory about this which was that Putin wanted a confrontation with the west so that the west would attack assets held by the elite outside of Russia. Which would give them no choice but to move what they could salvage back to Russia, and to back Putin because they would have nowhere to flee to anymore. Which make the odds of overthrowing Putin much lower.

Imagine American nuclear subs station there.

ETA nukes in Moscow 5 minutes.

IT WAS A MILITARY MOVE YOU FUCKING IDIOT.

THE ONE WHO CONTROLS CRIMEA CONTROLS THE NUKE GAME IN EUROPE.

black sea

The port of Sevastopol and easy access to the black sea

It's pretty obvious that strategically and in terms of Russian national interest as a whole it was a huge disaster, but that is irrelevant to the ruling elite in Russia.

The primary goal was to serve the political interests of Putin and his cronies.

Before Crimea his popularity was at an all time low and the Russian economy was just entering a period of stagnation due to major structural problems that Putin has failed to address.

The whole purpose was to stage a grand production of political theatre in order to bolster the regime and create an environment where criticism of govt policy can be labelled as treason (so you can assassinate opposition and get away with it) and so that any internal economic and political problems can be blamed on EU/US.

Water access. Russia's access to the oceans is shit at best, controlling crimea helps with that.

>What was the purpose for Russia annexing Crimea?

Russia knows only two kinds of neighbors: vassals and enemies

have you been watching too much cold war propaganda again?

Military control of the Black sea. From Crimea we can launch anti-ship missles enywhere.

>anywhere

Not propaganda. Each neighbor has is either under pro Russian influence or has trouble with Russia. Look Georgia, Ukraine, Baltic States and even Poland.

Ukraine (before the war) was largely neutral.

Crimea was always Russian clay, you should know that.

The creation of Ukraine was a disaster for ethnic Russians who happened to live there. If you're a Russian from eastern Ukraine, good luck getting a job in the rest of the country.

Sabre rattling, see how the west would respond, and secure one of the more important ports of the Black Sea

>Ukraine (before the war) was largely neutral.

Viktor Yanukovych was controlled by Moscow.

Which is why he even bothered contemplating a deal with the EU amirite? Nice source retard.

The Galician hillbillies of Western """"Ukraine"""" are controlled by the Vatican.

>What was the purpose for Russia annexing Crimea?

Putin discovered a kike plot to make Crimea into a second israel, but just for ashkenazim, so he decided to jack their shit before they could make it happen, lel

>Which is why he even bothered contemplating a deal with the EU amirite? Nice source retard.

Lol, he didn't contemplate shit. He turned strongly turned towards Moscow (2010 Russian Naval Base deal). He silenced anti-russian journalists and politicians. Lets face it, he was in Putins pocket.

Гдe ти в Poccии, aнoн?

Ever played any of the paradox strategy games? Crimea is a Russian 'core' ever since Catherine, ever since the Tatar-Turkic scourge-slime left by the Mongols was finally washed off. Despite the communists fucking with the borders, despite the Kiev oligarch-dons, despite all the betrayals by the Germans and the Pole-Lithuaniatvians and the Ukrops, Crimea is still firstly Russian. That's hundreds of years. They're your people.

Land access to Crimea would lessen the financial and infrastructural burdens, but Donbass is not Crimea. Even though Donbass, Mariupol, and Odessa have experienced real atrocities, real Russophobic genocide, they are still too poor to make it worth it. The power(s) that be in Russia have decided Crimea is worth it, and they have generally gotten away with taking it back. There's a lot of parallels to draw with Kaliningrad. But unlike Kaliningrad, Russian troops have always been in Crimea, long before John McCain's Maidan occured. A true democratic advantage for Russia would not be as likely in Donbass as it was in Crimea anyway.

When American planes spy on Russia and Russia responds by disabling American ships in the Black Sea, both parties are aggressive and at fault; but the reclaiming of Crimea gives Russia legitimacy unlike world-hegemon USA which has no territory or even a true ally anywhere close to the Black Sea.

There is warmth and tourism there. There are actually energy reserves there. There is propaganda value in comparing a Russian or Chechen serviceman with his happy family in Sevastopol or Grozny to an American soldier with his happy husband or a dead Syrian, Libyan, or Iraqi child.

ITS AFUCKIGN WARM PORT IN TH MEDITERRANIAN OY FUCKING RETARD YOU FUCKING RETARD

Fucking this.
The reverse of this is happening in Vietnam right now.

Wouldn't not doing this type of kikery make the odds of overthrowing him even lower?

> oil
Russia doesn't need it, proxyfag. Siberia and the Arctic is up to its eyeballs in oil

Can you guys please stop copying my flag?

Thanks.

Go back to Orange, White, Blue. It's more striking

Yes because invading nuclear states is possible.

Because black sea and russian speakers

>no oil,
Why does Russia need oil? You've already got plenty of it and you've got previously exhausted wells filling up again..
If someone in the UK knows this, surely someone in Russia would.

Because Crimea is ethnically russian.

You forgot your proxy Dmitri.

hello

The USA wants to completely encircle Russia and then hammer them with sanctions, blockades, and other pressure, then pull a coup.

Invasion is a last ditch effort that will only be done if they are confident new tech has broken MAD.

Russia wants to keep NATO out of the Black Sea. In case of a WW3 scenario russian warships could shoot all the way into the middle east (the most important battle field) and into east europe from the Black Sea. They wouldnt need to cross into the Mediterrenean.

If Russia had lost the crimean military port they would be done for as a superpower. Zbigniev Brzezinski, the geopolitical chief advisor of several US presidents including Obama, wrote that in his 1998 bestseller 'Grand Chessboard'.

I agree.

But unfortunately (neo-)Nazi's claimed that flag so we can't.

(and if you wonder why that neo-Nazi is wearing a Che Guevara shirt....I don't know man, I don't know)

As for the answer: the Russian naval base and the "South Stream" pipeline.

The real reason is the mix of short term and long term targets.

maybe not now.
maybe 10 years in the future
maybe a 100.
doesn't matter, geopolitics are long term.

Putin wanted to control the entirety of Ukraine's coast along the black sea. Lots of fighting around Mariupol/shirokino. He also tried causing shit in Odessa buy underestimated the Ideology of Odesans and got BTFO of the city. Ukraine and Putin helping Assad in Syria is all about control and presence in the Black Sea.

Also to add that now Crimean's are pretty pissed with the situation. Moscow oligarchs have bought out everyone's businesses such as restaurants, hotels etc. Now only recently a law has passed there making it illegal for Crimeans to rent out their houses/rooms such as AirBnB, couchsurfing etc

We didn't annex it. It was the will of the people.
Other than that, how about 2m+ patriotic Russians, Black Sea fleet base, plenty of top tier summer resorts (which admittedly are in ruins after the Ukrainian rule), important historical part of Russia and preventing Ukraine from joining NATO?