I think what GP meant is that majority of people in Crimea self-identify as Russians, not Ukrainians - 68%, according to Wikipedia [1] Similar thing can be sai

I think what GP meant is that majority of people in Crimea self-identify as Russians, not Ukrainians - 68%, according to Wikipedia [1] Similar thing can be said about disputed teritorries in the east, around Donbas. Of course that's still not the excuse for what Russia did, taking both places by force, however, this makes fixing this more complicated. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea#Demographics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea#Demographics