"At the G-8 we decided to suspend Russia's participation, i.e. it is expected that all the other countries, the seven largest, will be there and meet without Russia." The words of Laurent Fabius, foreign minister of France, the second largest European economy and nuclear power, cannot leave one indifferent. And not only because the summit was supposed to take place next June in Sochi, Russia (but already at the beginning of March the European Union had decided to suspend the preparations), but because it testifies that the West has passed from the words to the facts and after threatening to exclude Russia from the G-8, he has in the meantime decided to suspend it. Suspension that adds to a series of sanctions, albeit limited and on a personal basis, ordered by both the EU and the US against 21 Russian and Ukrainian citizens involved in the conflict which is now unleashing a veritable new cold war.
Fabius's statements come just as President Vladimir Putin was claiming the newly reconquered Crimea before the Duma, the Russian parliament, and was signing the treaty for the peninsula's accession to the Russian Federation, after Sunday's referendum which ratified the popular will with a real plebiscite (96% of the votes). "It has always been and remains an inalienable part of Russia - Putin said - and its status as a territory of Ukraine was a shocking injustice of history", he commented, referring to Nikita Krushev's "gift" back in 1954. Now so that Crimea returns to all intents and purposes Russia, as it was from the eighteenth century to the immediate post-war period, there is only one last - probably obvious - step: after Putin's statements, idRussian deputies will pronounce themselves on Friday, but the bill is already ready and the vote will only be pro-forma.
