Region Information: In March 2014, following the overthrow of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, unmarked Russian forces with local militias took control of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The Russian-controlled authorities held a referendum on Crimea joining the Russian Federation, after which the territory was formally joined to the Russian Federation as two federal subjects: the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine deemed the referendum unconstitutional and Ukraine continues to assert its rights over the peninsula with most UN member countries continuing to regard Crimea as Ukrainian territory.
The following is a trip was undertaken by long term Pinkbike users to CrimeaWhen someone mentions Russia you think of cold long winters, a couple meters of snow, Siberia, vodka and bears wandering around on the streets—the usual stereotype. But many don't even imagine that due to the vast terrain of the country and the wide variety of terrain, you can find anything in Russia, ever frozen lands (permafrost), long winters with -50 Celcius and alike. But in the South, you have places where it barely snows and average temperatures rise above +10 Celcius. Also, the tallest mountain in Europe is Elbrus mountain, located in Caucasus mountain range, precisely in the South, not far from Crimea.
Crimea is one of those privileged places, with warm and dry summers and short, not very cold winters. Recently there was a lot of talking about this region due to political conflicts between Russian and the Ukraine. Many friends commented, "Are you sure, what about security there?". Well, my friends, there are no issues at all in Crimea, security is not a problem at all. A large percentage of the local population has Russian roots for generations, so switching from Ucrania to Russia was not an issue for them, on the contrary, most of them are really happy with it due to the quick increase of Russian tourists and all of the business possibilities that come with that. Historically, Crimea has been the main summer tourist destination for all ex-soviet citizens; currently citizens from around 15 different countries. So everyone cares more about the increased number of tourists and therefore the increase on businesses and income related to this.
And what about mountain biking, what can you say about it? Well, welcome to the paradise. Mountains up to about 1,700m high, with a wide variety of terrain and a huge trail network for all levels. I stayed for three weeks in the small town Alushta, just 70km (one hour drive) from Simferopol where the international airports are located. Alushta is right on the seashore on the beautiful Black Sea, surrounded by a U-shaped mountain range with the highest peak ranging around 1,500m. This location offers an extensive variety of trails, flowy, technical, steep, fast, all kind of them, many ending just five minutes from the sea where to enjoy a fresh local beer once you finish the ride and even take a plunge into the sea if you feel brave enough.
I planned my three weeks of riding with the help of
BikeTest.ru, a small but active company focused 100% on MTB routes for all levels. Their main leader and guide is known Russian rider, Vados Barbados, with more than 25 years of riding experience. In the 90´s and beginning of the 2000's, he used to race professionally and even participated on several DH world cups in Fort Williams, Vigo, and Catalunya. With those credentials, fun is assured.
I booked my flight to Crimea just one month before my trip, so it was somewhat on the pricey side, around 300€ from Spain to Simferopol. But if you plan ahead several months, you can get two-way tickets for less than 200€ from Spain and other locations in Europe. All flights pass through Moscow where you need to do a change to a local flight to get to Simferopol in Crimea. There aren't, at least for now, direct flights from European countries to Crimea. Aeroflot was my chosen airline, it offered the best price. Also, if you travel light and your bike box doesn't weight more than 23kg, there is no need to pay extra for the bike. So you save about 50€ as compared to other airlines. Just grab all your clothes and helmet with you on the cabin luggage, that's what I've done without any issues. For three weeks, it was more than enough for me, so if you plan for just one week, you will be covered.
BiketTest.ru offers pickup and drop off at the airport, so you don't need to worry about a taxi, bus or alike. After 1h drive you arrive at Alushta, the accommodation suggested by BikeTest.ru is a "bike friendly" small hotel with 12 double rooms and one attic for four persons. It has a secure room for the bikes, washing station, and a staff perfectly aware of riders necessities. It has a small restaurant where they offer tasty local food and breakfast. The hotel is located a five-minute ride from the sea and town center where you have plenty of places to choose to eat and enjoy a nice holiday. Prices are usually around 30–40% less than in most European countries. And, what's most important, about just 1h slow pedaling from the first trails.
Trails, what about trails?! Let me tell you, there is a lot more than you will be able to ride in one week. I spent three weeks riding, doing around 40km long routes on a daily basis, some days combining lifts and some pedaling and still didn't tried all the trails around. Just about 30-minute pedaling from the city you have already several fun flowy trails for all levels, mainly green and blue levels as Ceraus, Ai-Iori, Mamontovaya or Alushta trails. BikeTest offers several options according to each group of riders, trying to accommodate same level riders on one group so the ride satisfies everyone. There are also technical step trails for the hardcore riders with a lot of exposed zones, rock gardens and more gnarly sections.
BikeTest offers several options according to each group of riders, trying to accommodate the same level riders to one group so the ride satisfies everyone. There are also technical step trails for the hardcore riders with a lot of exposed zones, rock gardens and more gnarly sections. Trails like Iagodka, Zimelinika, Man, Zpovednii, will leave you with a big smile on your face. And the views from the top, that's something to take into account. Starting at around 1,500m height and ending near the Black Sea means the same amount of non-stop descent with very few climbs. There is a ton of information on the
TrailForks website, with all data. I even updated some of them to make it even more accurate.
Alushta mountain biking trailsSome days we had even up to five uplifts with some pedaling involved to get to the trailhead, accomplishing by end of day about 1,500m of cumulative climbing and an astonishing 3,700m of descent. Days usually start at 10am with pickup at the hotel and a small briefing to let everyone know the plan of the day. Usually around 3–4pm the route is over, that's about six hours of riding, including stops for snacks and the delicious sandwich that BikeTest always has ready for each rider, each day. For me, the best moment of the day was enjoying those moments just sitting, enjoying the views and eating that sandwich, thinking about the awesome trail that lies ahead.
In order to enjoy the days to the fullest my advice is to be in a relatively good physical shape and be able to withstand several hours on the bike. There are no really long and epic rides, but riding several days in a row, doing lots of descents where your arms and legs will suffer, it's recommended to be ready for that. If not, you will risk having crashes due to fatigue and you will not enjoy all that the trails have to offer.
As for the spares, I recommend taking at least the minimum necessary for several days of riding with you. A couple of tubes, one spare derailleur hanger, at least one pair of brake pads and if you have space, take a spare tire just in case. In my case, I didn't take one as I was limited by weight, and on the third day of riding, I had a clean two-inch cut in the rear tire, a brand new 27.5 Minion 2.3 Exo tire. Thankfully, Vados had some spare tires at home and I immediately bought one from him (a HighRoller Exo 27.5) and had it ready that night. I also had some issues with one of the rear wheel bearings and on the same day got a spare one from a store located on Simferopol, but spent one day without riding waiting for it to come and later mount it. I used that day without riding to do some tourism in the nearby city of Yalta, remarkably known as the place of the "Yalta Conference" where leaders from the USA, UK, and the Soviet Union gathered at the end of Second World War to shape a post-war peace agreement and Europo postwar reorganization. It's a beautiful city by the sea with a long stroll along the seashore, known to be visited by most of the main intellectuals of the pre-Soviet era late 18th century, Pushkin, Chekhov, Khanshovkov, Gorki and more.
Summarizing: I would totally recommend spending at least one week riding in Alushta area with BikeTest as your guiding companions. The area has outstanding trails and lot to offer to everyone. You will certainly not regret flying there.
I do hope that you and the rest of the PB feel the same about the rest of the occupied, semi-occupied territories of this world and you boycott as well. Not just Crimea cause it is trendy in our days.
Yes, that referendum was bullshit and illegal in all terms, but the fact is that Crimea people (Russians are ~60% in 2001) mostly supported this move...
Anyway, we will not see legitimate referendum until Putin is president.
And sanctions are to keep Russia and EU separated? Haha, Putin does not want any integration with the EU. Rather, Putin wants to destroy the EU and ultimately dreams of a Russian dominated "Eurasian Union". Not much less than Hitler wanted. Just read the works of Aleksandr Dugin, a major geopolitical ideological inspiration for Putin.
#putinchuilo #lalalalalalalala
And Croatia is also serbian territory probably?
ни кто не может из вас судить про крым если здесь не когда не были ! рекомендую для развития проехать в крым !
потом писать!
мы не оккупированы !!только разве что от ваших санкций в Крыму не работают некоторые функции в интернете !
если бы мы не перешли в Россию у нас была бы война! война Крыма с украиной . Как на юго востоке украины .
так кстати украинские националисты насилуют и убивают мирных граждан прикрываясь тем что они армия украины!
And, author, I don't care if this post was propaganda or not, but it was really sweet, I agree - we have a lot of biking potential. Great job! I was very pleased to read a post so inspired by the beauty and coolness of my homeland. Thank you for being unbiased, and - for putting riding above all else!
You can hide in a dark closet and lick your browny eye for example.
Less words, more action!
We here to be united by our love to bicycle, not to separated by government television propaganda.
"And, current situation is MUCH better than it was"
In your dreams. No foreign investment, no transport links, shortages and almost ZERO improvements in infrastructure. And people from the developed world before could actually visit without the utterly retarded Russian "visa" crap, which few people can be bothered with and only exists because of pathetic tit for tat spite.
"Infrastructure is developing much faster"
Show some evidence of this. I have seen absolutely NOTHING. Quite the opposite, things are looking more and more neglected than before. More garbage on the streets around Simferopol. Before there was foreign investment, foreign tourists and it was connected to the outside world.
"We use russian payment systems, buy at AliExpress, Yandex, Qiwi and other stuff"
Woohoo, that's great. What Russian payment systems? Russian banks aren't even moving in there. So just to buy basic commodities you have to use Chinese sites...great!
" In just last 3 years working my parents was able to gather more money then after 10 years in Ukraine"
And what are their jobs? They're probably Russian propagandists or involved with the disgusting criminal Sergey Aksyonov's criminal activies.
If you genuinely think like that, then you must have serious mental problems. Sad.
You know what is disgusting? Defending the invasion of a sovereign nation. An invasion where anyone who opposes it is arrested on trumped up charges or mysteriously disappears. An invasion where the occupiers appoint a disgusting criminal (Sergey Aksyonov) with known ties to organised crime to rule the place with an iron fist. A thug with zero charisma who is totally inarticulate and extremely ignorant.
No, you're not. Other people who have been there and have relatives there have posted here.
"Of course, Crimea mattered something to Ukraine as a trigger to receive more money for western bases here"
Huh? Western bases? Is that what Russian propaganda is telling you?
"But we are here: mostly Russians, everyone speaks Russian"
No different to other parts of Ukraine where the majority speak Russian.
"Crimea is historically a part of Russia for hundreds of years"
WRONG! It's NOT historically Russian. It has a long and complex history, and Russia only annexed it from the Ottoman Empire in the late 18th century. Prior to that it had pretty much no connection with Russia. It was only 170 years later that it was transferred to Ukraine. Furthermore, real Russification did not begin until the 20th century, when the Tatars were deported and mass settling of ethnic Russians was encouraged. .
"we choose our land to belong to this country"
So for 23 years, why did you and other like minded people not try to secede? Well? There was no mainstream support for secession and scumbag criminal's Sergey Aksyonov's "Russian Unity" party had less than 5% of the vote. If people were SOOO anti-Ukrainian as you said, there would have been armed rebellion against Ukrainian rule. But there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Zilch. Again, it was no different from other regions of Ukraine where the majority language is Russian.
There was no referendum.
"I'm sure it would've been even worse than in the East of Ukraine right now"
Complete and utter garbage. It would be just like it was for the previous 23 years. The Donetsk and Luhansk "war" is an artifically fomented conflict that couldn't happen without intentional destabilisation from Putler. If Putler would just leave Ukraine alone, Crimea and Donetsk and Luhansk regions would be absolutely fine.
Don't get me wrong though, Russian propaganda exists, no doubt about it, but you can be just as certain that the US also needs a massive load of propaganda to justify its military budget, its military bases across the world, and most of all, its wars. If you only see Russian propaganda, if you're calling some "Mr. Putin's web brigade" but you're missing the neocons' supporters, I advise you pick up some Noam Chomsky or William Blum book. Or Stephen Lendman on the Ukraine. The West badly needs self-criticism; especially in the Ukraine crisis, at the borders of Russia. And only with such calm and respectful attitude could we expect, encourage the same from other people, like Russia.
Let's not make it another world or cold war. If western governors still need to convince public opinion to make their wars, we better be careful how we, western people, behave, and what we decide to believe. Basically, I'm just saying I'd like to see Ukrainians, Russians, Americans find a non-violent solution and a way to get along and not just act like 5 year olds with f*cking atomic bombs. I know this will sound like "Mr Putin's web brigade rhetoric" to some, but the day self-criticism will no longer be heard in the West, I'll know where the fascists really are at power.
Ah it's probably because "naiveness" leads to brain explosion
You keep talking about Germany and USA (you're basically picking the worst but eh), but when people talk about western countries, they don't think only about these two countries.
And I agree with Swiss @bombastus that it's totally legitimate to critique Western media and methods. IMO Western countries especially post Soviet CIS collapse were not exactly helpful in understanding Russian concerns.
I do agree with zed that you're lumping many buckets of media into one big whole. There's insanely biased Western propoganda for sure but there's pro Russia western outlets and the odd chunk of insightful commentary.
My main point being that degree between the West-East media cannpt be compared.
Thanks for the thoughtful debate. A bit rare on PB i know
The Chinese are about the same level/state as Russia but having more money to spread around it is a more populist style of quasi-authoritarian governance. Definitely the Chinese are more subtle (its tough to get less subtle than the Russians)
Too much Jew gold... you people should get a fkng life honestly. I am old enough to remember a mild version of Soviet Propaganda. Don't even want to think of full on Soviet propaganda. Think North fkng Korea these days. Tooo much peanut butter. Too much PSX, too much suspension travel. You guys are waaaay out of your comfort zone, or perhaps too deep in
Have you watched FOX news , there all like robots with that weird Stepford wives look about them . And just like there leader ......sexpests !
western journalists dont die on a dayly basis in wars, not even weeks or monthly. stop lying.objectiv war coverage was done in vietnam the last time.
But yeah, keep believing in these bs that the pentagon is creating every news, that CIA put some chip in your brain to control your thoughts, that putin is the nicest guy on earth, that earth is cooling down, that cannabis can cure alzheimer and everything but big pharmas don't want us to know (...) ; keep believing in this boy, but please don't forget to take your antipsychotics
Now you tell me which option you prefer. I'd rather be a bit clueless citizen of LA or Vancouver
I'm Polish BTW
@zede Maybe you're right for the news paper networks. But propaganda is not only newspaper, it could be movies, activist demonstrations, subversive actions, tweets. I still perceive american propaganda as the most omnipresent; regardless of what level of free speech or control of press there is.
@tkaszuba I am sorry to hear about your grandma. I was actually born in Germany. If we had more time and some beer I'm sure we'd learn a lot from each other.
Ok guys, who's going to ride in Syria?
Your argument about Jewish gold... what argument by the way, it's just an allusion, not even a sentence. Oh sorry, it was a joke! How funny. So what jewish gold? Are you referring to the behaviour of the swiss authorities/companies during the second WW (yes, not citizens, and even less me as even my parents weren't born at the time!)? Are you saying this is a shame? Oh yes it is. Are you saying because of this, a swiss citizen (which I am not, but that's what you imply) wouldn't be allowed to raise his voice for something he finds unacceptable? Wow, that would make a nice world because I don't believe there is a single nation on earth that doesn't have its dark side, its moment of shame. And therefore we couldn't take action or intervain. How stupid! You want a few examples? A virtual and an actual case:
I'm french, so I'll start with our dark moments. The new President said he would bomb Syrian sites (of chemicals) if those very chemicals would be used against the population in Syria (let's see if he sticks to his words, Obama and Hollande did not). Now imagine someone does like you and says: "colonies" (no sentence, too complexe). Then the guy would think: "yeah you're right, we had colonies and that's not a way to treat people, this is against human rights so who are we to give lessons? Fine then, we'll let the regime gas civilians without saying a beep if they wich to do so". Nice thing, right?
Or the US thinking "shit, we had laves, black people have no rights here so who are we to judge the action of Hitler?" Well... as a European I'm happy they made the move, who knows what our world would still be now (and yes, there were a lot of reasons for them to make the move, not jsut stopping the holocaust, I'm not that naive, thank you).
And now I'll elaborate on my very first comment that triggered your verbal diarrhea. I have an issue with the fact an unsettled conflict which caused death, lost of sovereignty of a democratic country on its territory and some colateral damages (remember that commercial flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur? Well I hope you had no relatives on this plane) is presented as a happy situation. In case you wouldn't know (how possible? you know everything!), most of the international community does not recognize Crimea as a Russian territory. That's what I call pro-russia (I know, I only said russian at first) propaganda. "Recently there was a lot of talking about this region due to political conflicts between Russian and the Ukraine". Political conflict??? Machine guns, missiles, tanks... was that really political? I thought you dislike political correctness. Maybe you like it now.
And hearing from you that I should get myself a life... what a delightful irony. Who of us spends his life on the forums trying to get famous? Not me. I don't have time and interest for that bullshit cause... I have a real life man.
And quite frankly your care for Crimea is just gullible, just like any fake care of anyone who is not living in the troubled area. I live in Sweden, I see on daily basis, how people pretend they care, performing recreational compassion. I'm coming from Poland, raised as Catholic - I am conditioned to see through bullsht called "good intentions". I am conditioned for asking a question "what's in it for you mate".
Here, under this article I exercise a perverse hobby of mine, that is psychology of shadow side of human personality. I have a good base of knowledge of human motives, games of appearances, I just love seeing how this unfolds, how reptile brain triggers reactions to impotence of being unable to act on disturbing information, and dresses them up in pseudo care, pseudo compassion, finally pseudo intellectualism.
Russian propaganda? You have no clue how to fight it, you can't fight a psychpath by speaking sense to him, your pitiful initial text is what a KGB officer would read, smile and shoot you in the back of your head or kick a chair from under you. You have not a tiniest fkng clue what you tried to achieve here.
Myself on the other hand treat this as a form of entertainment, I have not a slightest delusion about that. I can fully enjoy life being happy I don't live in Crimea, Syria or Saudi Arabia, I don't need to read how terrible some people have it, about executed children in Aleppo. I know we are all capable of doing this, it's all a matter of circumstances. I don't need to meet the darkest sides of me everytime I see a war report. What terrifies me is that majority of people are completely unaware of the sht inside of them. If they would, they wouldn't be pointing fingers so eagerly. That also makes me think that if you can't see sht you can't see the real good.
Cheers!
-Kickin' it in Kashmir
-Gravel Grindin' in the West Bank
-New East China Sea Islands, Fat Bike Paradise?
@sjflow - there have been travel articles to Israel - part of Tourism's push. But these other regions are a bit more controversial eg "Downhilling Donbass"
also good for ski touring, no pow tho
Who's there?
Crimea.
Crimea who?
Crimea river.
Got to admit, I've been to Crimea quite a few times before the annexation, and it was a mixed experience - the mountains are amazing, trails are great, but the overall economic situation and grumpiness of the local population towards Ukraine was something that was really felt. It was very cheap for the Russians to go there over for vacations and all, but still felt weird that such a magnificent area was just slowly dying.
I've also been a couple of times after the annexation and while I do not really accept the way Crimea was annexed, I still see quite a few good developments on the area - mountain biking exploding, lots of new trails and companies to offer guide services / shuttling etc. That's amazing and that's something I wish we had before.
All in all, sad to see such comments here - we might have different opinions on world events, but be assured, we're far from being gorillas with nukes willing to set up The Regime everywhere.
Have fun on trails, and crash less.
If there is someone for locals to be grumpy about, it is Russia. Russia has invaded it and strangled it both economically and politically. If they were grumpy about the economic situation under Ukraine, then they should be absolutely livid about it under the occupational regime, which is undoubtedly FAR worse.
Now there's no foreign investment, no ATMs, far less tourists and when I went post-annexation I saw ZERO improvements in infrastructure. Sergey Aksyonov is SCUM. Utter, utter scum. A lowlife mafia criminal who is totally inarticulate and has zero charisma and looks exactly like what he is, a thug.
You're right, mountain bikes know no borders. But apparently, neither do Russian tanks...
"mountain biking exploding"
Malaysian Boeings exploding too.
Of cource, there are some infrastructure problems (it's a small village near the mountain), but there are lifts (by car) and just visualise it: it's a three days race with 15 different trails in it!
Trails there are really good, it's enduro with lots of jumps, i love it.
And this is some problems in this great article about such great places. Too much words about Russia, Russia and Russia.
Am sure - it is only two ways for this article in future. 1. PB should delete it cause of propaganda of russian military politics. 1. Yaroslav should cut off all mentions about USSR, Russia, Ukraine, history etc.
And when someone sayin "no borders, no politics for mtb/sport/fun" - cmon, are you seriously? Then some people stealing part of your property and sayin "no borders for mtb" - thats sound absolutely ridiculous.
I don't give two shits about what country a place is part of. Crimea can be part of Bhutan as far as I'm concerned, as long as they actually govern the place well and care about the people, and do things within international standards. The problem is that Putler's regime invaded sovereign Ukrainian territory illegally, and installed filthy criminals like Sergey Aksyonov, and has brutally oppressed people who refuse to accept it. I know people whose families' have been torn apart by those actions. It's not a pretty picture, and if you think all is good there and better than before, then you're a tard, simple as.
Also Sergey Aksyonov is complete SCUM. An inarticulate, uncharismatic and extremely ignorant criminal who has known ties to organised crime. The only reason this cünt was hand picked by Putin is because he knows he'll rule the place with an iron fist and stamp out any dissent.
Fact: Russin invaded Crimea and did a unrecognized referendum. Crimea betong to Ukraine, regardless of anyones opinion of the legality of its government.
So take this article off the site pb.
Talking serious, read my reply to prev comment, I don`t want to copy and paste it.
www.international.gc.ca/sanctions/countries-pays/ukraine.aspx?lang=eng
I can't imagine any site sponsor wants their advertisement supporting the illegal annexation of Crimea.
Why would pinkbike risk posting this? Are they not worried about the ramifications from Double Click, their other advertising sponsors, or apple pulling trail forKs?
Who told you this bullshit? The number of Russian tourists is WAY less than the previous number of Ukrainian and foreign tourists there was before. Most Russians prefer Turkey due to better services, better beaches and longer summer season.
I have a family in Crimea, i lived there a lot before the conflict.
Here is the the business case for you.
You vote for democracy, vote peace, for clear sport, for competitions. And... you live in current Russia. What will you do?
Here is my case. I made competitions, website for cyclists, went to meetings, but that don't helps with main political stuff in Russia, it's steady as hell, you can't change it.
So what will you do?
Most of us decided that we will dream about changes that we can make ourself. For me, my team, my friends it's cycling. This dream is about antidoping, races, people on bikes, friendship and, fore sure, peace. That what we want to provide in the zone of our opportunities to change.
I hope that guilty people will find their way to punishment. But you should know the strange lesson from this war. Agression we make kills much more than we see. Lots of people there were killed because of agression on russian TV. Agression kills. 1000 of us will write agressive comment, one crazy (he thinks that he is about real truth) will take a gun. It's really works like that, we saw that, you see that also.
So you are in Russia, vote for things you respect currently. What will you dream about? Killing youself? Immigrating? Making your part of the Russia better?
-----
Always remember "1984". You hear information, that you are given by your goverment.
That's why no truth here, only lie (form Putin, from Trump and others).
That's like comparing a bar fight with someone starving his own child to death.
Do you hate the Germans for the second world?
Do you hate the Chinese for the Red Guards and the Mao?
Do you hate Americans and Spaniards for the Indians?
It is so profound refer to the past when it has nothing to do with the present.
No ukrains are killed in Crimea last time. But they kill themselves in their senseless civil war.
Senseless civil war huh? There is no civil war. There is an artificially fomented conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk regions which is financed and supported by Putin.
"No one knows the truth."
If no one knows the truth, then how do you know that my description of Holodomor is not true?
"And what does Stalin have to do with modern situiation?"
Idk, ask the vatniks in Donetsk and Luhansk who march around the city with his portraits...
i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03476/Donetsk_Stalin_Pos_3476336b.jpg
"they kill themselves in their senseless civil war"
The fact that your soldiers removed the Russian flag from their uniforms doesn't make it a civil war. You simply invaded a foreign country the same way you invaded Finland, the Baltic countries or Poland in the past.
@Zdochliak we had Russian soldiers in our country for 40+ years
And I believe Slovakia is a member of NATO, so Russian soldiers won't dare to go near it. If they're not welcome, then why is there not mass opposition to it?
The USA has its problems, and the fact that an ignoramous like Trump could possibly be elected it is one of them. But if there's one place that needs a revolution urgently, it's RUSSIA.
If there were no Russian people and, probably, Stalin, you would now serve some kind of Gans. Over 25mln russians were killed, but they stopped fascism.
Go on listening to the lies from the screen of your box. Holodomor is the political name of the crisis in the USSR, which is similar to the great depression in the United States (in the same years), only the United States did not survive before this world war and revolution ...
You know nothing.
Some people have their own opinion, you obviously do not treat such a thing, a puppet.
And nowadays Russia finances nazi parties all over Europe...go figure
Q2: Ask yourself when you will next celebrate with picture of US president"
And nowadays Russia finances nazi parties all over Europe...go figure" You wanted to say USA, right? Or what is according to you party Svodoba in Ukrainian parliament, supported by EU?
who celebrate with picture of US president? and which one is similar massmurder like Stalin or Hitler?
you're so stupid, looks like you're Kotleba voter - well known nazi...
No matter how, but exactly Stalin's regime won the WW2, not this coward US, Britain or France.
And pictures of him is the memory tribute, NOT MORE.
All russians recognize and mourn the victims of repression, and no one supports this.
But this was hard times for our country, аnd no one knows what would happen if it were not, maybe our country would be conquered by the Chinese.
And what you can say about China, where is the cult of Mao? You hate chinese? Go and give up everything that's done in China. Stalin is the puppy in comparison with him.
You dont't know history, but wrote this comments. Go and learn history of XX centure, moron.
And what about Winter War?
well f*ck you bro and your f*cking gulags, f*ck your invasion in 1968 and f*ck your putler politruks history books - Mao was Stalins buddy from the beginning and soviet commie scum was strategic partner to Chinese commie scum...you don't have chance against China longterm with current demographics...sadly...you were no better than any other imperial forces so don't pretend you're something more morally..same shit, different color...many people fell victim to panslavism and romantic dreams of slavic unity just to find out it doesn work and that slavs tend to be even bigger c*nts when dealing with other slavs...shame...
Russia is great and beautiful country, but our experience with Russian regimes from the past are awful. It's simple as that.
(The report itself has been released in October, The Day of Victory is on May 9th www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/19/stalin-portraits-ukraine-rebel-territory )
Second, I'd rather serve some kind of Gans than some kind of Ivan, as we have been serving for 41 years from 1948 to 1989. There was no liberation, just one occupation army replaced another one.
Third, 25 mln Russians were killed is mainly due to the incompetence of your own commanders who kept sending waves of troops against the German positions pretty much until the Germans ran out of ammo and left. I'm wondering how many of those 25 mln have been shot to the chest by a German MG-42 and how many have been shot to the back by a Soviet PM M1910 (as it's a well known fact that many Soviet commanders would rather gun their troops down than let them retreat or surrender).
When it comes to Holodomor, isn't it interested that happened in Ukraine, which was the most fertile land of the whole USSR, and not let's say in Moscow? Also... wjhat great depression? I thought such things could only happened in the rotten capitalist West, not in your prospering red paradise...
In all the photos this sad cünt has uploaded, he has the location for them set as being RUSSIA.
Whodyounickabollockov
By the way, in article author didn't write about any political issues, he wrote about riding and only riding. So, why we are discussing any political shit on a mtb resource?
NO! It lies within Ukraine's borders, recognised as such by the entire civilised world.
"they pay taxes to russian treasury and getting salaries and pensions in russian rubles from russian government"
You could say the same about Kuwait as part of Iraq when Saddam Hussein invaded it. Doesn't mean jack shit I'm afraid.
Funny you talk about Russian companies investing in it, because very few are. Not even major Russian banks are moving in there for fear of sanctions.
"he wrote about riding and only riding"
No, he referrred to it as being Russia. That's provocation. He also blindly accepted Russian propagandist views.
"so, what's wrong with phrase "Crimea is a part of Russia"? "
Everything. The same as Raqqa in Syria is not part of "ISLAMIC STATE". Criminals can also invade your home, hold you at gunpoint and declare it as their own. Doesn't mean that it's technically theirs.
Some Putin troll has added that to that site and presumably the admins have been too ignorant to understand the reality.
This could be the start of WW3 !
And more - if wasn't be any Maidan events, any civil war against their own citizens, the Crimea would still be Ukrainian. But its not. Think carefully, why? Who and what is the cause of the problem.
Second, Google is a private company that is in no way related to US State Department or any other federal institution. So even if Google had an opinion, it would be completely irrelevant.
Regards,
ex-Google employee
No, Google does not mark Crimea as Russian territory for anyone except those with Russian IP addresses, which is disgusting and utterly wrong.
Why the fúck do you think Maidan happened to begin with? It was because that bumbling little shìt called Yanukovych took a massive bribe from Putler not to sign the EU trade agreement. When his retarded ass was overthrown and he was sent scuttling off to Russia like the wretched little sewer rat that he is, Putler on a whim ordered the invasion of Crimea, because if he couldn't control all of Ukraine, he could at least take a part of it. Then Putler fomented unrest in Donetsk and Luhansk, with common criminals like "givi" giving their pathetic lives for Putler.
There is no civil war and there never has been.
And whats about google.ua.. Ukranian Crimea on the google map it is just one of that things, wich could be given to new Ukrainian regime and head-off nazies by western leaders, because ucranian people didn't get nothing more - no hope, no jobs, no cash. Destroyed economy, citizens without any livelihood and with tonz of credits, utility's tariffs grow without ant limits, government debts, wich couldn't be payed, and at least - terrible civil war. Yeah, they have nothing they was promised, but Crimea is Ukranian on google maps, yeah.. This way we win...
And things in Putin's Russia are not better than in Ukraine. Putin is running the country into the ground and is only hell bent on power and global influence. Russia's economy is a complete mess and millions of Russians want to leave and live in the west.
PS: There are many things that are wrong in Ukraine, but being from a country where half of the men drink themselves to death before they even reach the retirement age, I'm not sure if you're the right person to judge that.
Currently - Russia, sorry dude.
For me not important Russia or Ukraine, but i living in Crimea and I see - now is Russia.
Some things better, some things no changes, some things less well - same as any country.
Mountain bike trails better and better - this is more important for us than your policy.
Are Americans soldiers all over the world? YES!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_bases
Are they helping and protecting people? Ofc, like in Vietnam, Iraq, Nicaragua, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Korea, Libya, Syria..............
You all crazy. If tomorrow your country government go crazy, will not you want to go out?
And "the will of people" -the best joke I have ever heard. You should know that President of Russia is the former KGB colonel and events in Georgia and Ukraine are special operations of FSB and GRU.
I’d just encourage everyone to do some reading and take a more level view on what happened.
It's NOT historically Russian. It has a long and complex history, and Russia only annexed it from the Ottoman Empire in the late 18th century. Prior to that it had pretty much no connection with Russia. It was only 170 years later that it was transferred to Ukraine. Furthermore, real Russification did not begin until the 20th century, when the Tatars were deported and mass settling of ethnic Russians was encouraged.
Crimea was a completely stable, integral part of Ukraine with no threat of secession. It was no different to other majority Russian speaking parts of Ukraine. Secessionist parties got less than 5% of the vote and there was ZERO mainstream support for joining Russia. But when the useful idiot Yanukovych was ousted, Putin on a whim ordered troops into there, shut off Ukrainian media, stirred up anti-Ukrainian hostility and then staged a disgusting farce which they had the audacity to call a "referendum", which was not only blatantly rigged but was conducted under a climate of disgusting lies and promises that they knew they couldn't fulfill. They also appointed an absolutely repulsive mafia criminal as "prime minister", someone who is not only incredibly ignorant and has no charisma, but has known ties to organised crime.
It is one of the worst crimes to take place in the 21st century. Families have been torn apart by it. Up to 100,000 people have fled. Now the place is under totalitarian lockdown and anyone who resists the occupation right down to flying a Ukrainian flag is arrested or mysteriously disappears. On top of that, there is no foreign investment, no ATMs work and there are propaganda posters and Russian flags everywhere (gee, funny there wasn't a single Russian flag before the invasion).
Far more should have been done by western leaders to stop it, and it really angers me when I see anyone giving it tacit approval.
At the end of the day we’re all entitled to our own opinion and we’re not really acheiving anything by debating over a mtb article.
Look at previous elections in Crimea. Secessionist parties NEVER had any percentages of the votes above single digits. If there was such massive support for joining Russia, there would have been armed rebellion against Ukrainian rule, like there was in other post-Soviet territories like Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno Karabakh, Transnistria etc. But in Crimea there was absolutely nothing, zilch. It was completely STABLE and had it been left alone by the disgusting Putin regime, it would still be completely fine.
US and Ukrainian military? Since when has the US been involved in bombing in the Ukrainian conflict? Also "blatant bombing of civilian areas" sounds like RT or Sputnik propaganda.
And Ukrainians were saying it's a bad place to visit prior to the invasion? Huh? Gee, funny I never heard any of that. Millions of Ukrainians went there for there holidays, and much more Ukrainians than Russians did.
It IS a bad place to visit just now because it's run by criminals under totalitarian lockdown, and the "prime minister" Sergey Aksyonov is a filthy criminal. No foreign companies are investing there, and you can't even use any ATMs. There's also shortages of water and electricity.
Once Putler's regime collapses and Russia has a sensible leader, the first thing they should do is pull out of there. Then, maybe people can consider visiting it.
Facts:
1. No problems with water and electricity
2. A lot of Ukrainian citizens come to Crimea on vacation
3. A lot of Ukrainian business mans work in Crimea right now (as example - guys from Kiev took in rent expensive restaurant at the sea)
4. We use Visa and Mastercard at the gasoline stations, shops, bars and etc... ATMs working without problems also.
Another myths?
6: everyone is friendly and willing to help, doesn't matter where are you from
7: trails are AWESOME...what else you need?
So here is my conclusion, it's all because of your stupidity )
Хотя,неужели в Крыму нет коррупции,есть кучи пляжников, всё процветает, автобусные остановки с кондиционерами, и куча байкпарков с подъемниками ?))) Я кто тому, что если укатил в другое болото, то покритикуй его, а старое оставь в покое ))
Ну что Паша, будешь продолжать корчить из себя умника и обзывать меня тупым? Или может начнешь копаться в своем болоте?
В Криму залишились знайомі, які побігли на «референдум», маскуючи свої меркантильні інтереси, під ідеологічні переконання, яких у більшості ніколи не було. Насправді банально хотілось більше бабла, зарплат і пенсій. Так от, в розмові з ними постійно відчувається усвідомлене ними відчуття зради. Звідси оце бажання скрізь довести «ми же хорошіє», волання про те як начебто гнобили при Україні, постійні виправдування за допомогою брехливих штампів. А в кінці, я правило іде фраза – «зачєм же ви вишлі на майдан, вєдь так хорошо било до етого?».
Жити з відчуттям зради – паскудна річ. Ніхто і ніколи не буде тобі довіряти. А для спілкування залишається вузьке коло зрадників, таких як і ти сам.
І от в мене питання: Навiщо люди виходили на майдан? Який був цьому сенс, якщо зараз, ви ніяк не контролюєте цю владу, а вона що хоче, те і робить. Навiщо виходили?
It looks like all realizing that referendum was real and US goverment punishing this people for acting against US interests (for example, get another NATO Navy base near Russia borders).
But when will all people around the world realize that US goverment are forcing nations around the world to act in US interests with military and economic power?
It was not a coup. Yanukovych was a useless bumbling buffoon who had just accepted a massive bribe from Putin not to sign the EU deal. Millions of people protested against him and he made no reasonable concessions, sealing his own fate when he started using paid thugs and snipers to attack the protesters. I've seen many people like yourself bleat on about how Yanukovych was democratically elected. Just because someone was elected democratically does not mean that this gives the power to do whatever the hell they want, and Yanukovych absolutely failed to live up to the will of the Ukrainian people.
"what is important is that the crimeans did not want to be with Ukraine after all events in Kiev"
The majority likely wouldn't have cared without Russia stirring up tension and telling outrageous lies about it being a plot of "fascists". Ironically, the mafia thug that Putin installed in Crimea called Sergey Aksyonov is much more of a fascist than any Ukrainian politician and is good buddies with many of Europe's far right, including nazi apologist Janusz Korwin-Mikke.