Russia's War Against Ukraine
Ilan Berman: Putin’s costly Ukraine policy
There's no question that the Kremlin's policy toward Ukraine is paying concrete dividends, at least in Russia.
On March 7, tens of thousands of people rallied in Moscow's Red Square to support the Kremlin's expanding control over Crimea and formally incorporating the peninsula into the Russian Federation. Russian officials have taken up the call. In her recent meeting with the chairman of Crimea's parliament, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko pledged that "if the decision is made, then Crimea will become an absolutely equal subject of the Russian Federation."