I’m at a loss with these people. You visit a contested area in an active war zone and then you’re shocked when shit like this happens. Is the propaganda in Russia so complete that this eludes them?

[–] Rose@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 hours ago

It's not contested to them. They view the referendum as fair. Until recently, there were practically no signs of it being a war zone. They'd go on vacation to spend time by the sea and some would even buy property there without any issues.

[–] tunetardis@piefed.ca 12 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah same. I am so confused by this whole Crimea business. Russia took over in 2014. Did they offer really generous incentives for people to move in? Or was it more stick than carrot?

I seem to recall Ukraine retaliating by cutting off the water supply to the peninsula, which makes me think it would've been pretty shitty to stick around, let alone move in? And then when the current war got under way, Russia made it a priority to reestablish the water supply. But then they (the Russians) blew up the dam that controlled it?!? Like none of this makes any sense to me.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 8 points 5 hours ago

I think it can be summarised thusly:

it's a holiday destination
they're fucking idiots

[–] lokalhorst@feddit.org 27 points 10 hours ago

I think it actually is. For years the war was something very distant for most Russians, like a war somewhere else in the world, and the government did everything possible to upkeep this reality. I mean you are endangered if you even speak with other people about the war, how would you get info as an average citizen?