26 February 2014
Crisis in the Crimea? There’s only one person to call: Orlando Figes, who wrote a book on the Crimean War. Back then, Russia, led by Tsar Nicholas I, was pitched against the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France. Now there are fears that the Russophile region of southern Ukraine will be annexed by Putin. “It clearly is the faultline,” says Figes. “Will Russia go to war over Crimea? I doubt it.”
“Can it pass over to an EU country, and more worrying for Russia, a Nato country.” However, the Crimean War is still held in popular memory as “Russia standing up against Western powers in defence of its legitate interests in the Black Sea area.”
