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On a painted wall in Sevastopol, Russian president Vladimir Putin builds a new Crimea, under Russian colours. (Photo: Loreline Merelle)

Feature

Crimeans seek stable life under Russian control

by Loreline Merelle and Jean Comte, Simferopol and Sevastopol, Crimea,
On a painted wall in Sevastopol, Russian president Vladimir Putin builds a new Crimea, under Russian colours. (Photo: Loreline Merelle)

On a cloudy afternoon in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, two girls are shyly dropping off yellow flowers at a statue of an armed soldier with no label on his uniform. The figures depict the man being greeted by a little girl and a cat is rubbing against his legs.

The statue represents one of the "little green men" or "polite people" – the unmarked Russian special forces. They had taken over the Peninsula in February 2014, before it was annexed away from Ukraine with a referendum that...

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