It was a good day. Very good. Six years ago, on March 16, 2014, Crimean residents voted to return home - to Russia. By the degree of enthusiasm, such an event has not been, perhaps, since 1945. “What's next? .. Yes, even stones from the sky!” We are at home! ” - tablets worthy of history. The very case when it is possible and necessary to celebrate the next anniversary. On such days, the people become one.

The electoral results of the Crimean referendum are interesting. Despite twenty years in Ukraine (the life of a whole generation!), The Crimeans did not lose touch with their big Motherland. Let me remind you, the turnout was 83 percent. Of these, 96.7 percent favored reunification. Where, at what elections in Russia was this? .. Conclusion for the future - when the people are invited to make a historical choice, he is not mistaken.

And it is not only a matter of correcting the misunderstanding caused by the political shortsightedness of the Soviet Secretary General. The return of the Crimea is valuable as a precedent, a milestone. As a sign that Russia has stopped finally retreating, backing away and intends to continue to defend its natural interests, no matter what it costs. Those who did not understand this in 2014 understood now. Together with Crimea, the thirty-year era of defeat ended. A new era has begun.

Yes, the West was taken aback, and after recovering from the shock, it began to violently oppose, “punish” Russia for self-will. He promised never to recognize Crimea as Russian. As before the Soviet Baltic. However, there is a nuance. Unlike the Balts, the Crimeans themselves wanted to return to Russia. So the Westerners here fell a finger into the sky. But their obvious hostility is, perhaps, even a plus. Russians are always more successful against obvious enemies.

Actually, they had no choice but to reconcile themselves once and recognize Crimea as Russian. An amendment just introduced to the Constitution with the filing of artist Mashkov banning the alienation of Russian lands, territories and even negotiations on this will forever fix the new old status quo. Crimea - Russian, and Basta. Or would someone in the West risk venturing a new Crimean War? It is doubtful.

Of course, any event has a price. In the case of Crimea, these are large-scale economic sanctions. So what? Is the right to determine our own fate not worth it? “Yes, they do not care about these sanctions,” Putin just said in response to the concern of journalist Vandenko. On the contrary, he explained, sanctions allowed “to turn on the brain,” to begin to develop those sectors of the economy that were still in the pen.

Right. And now, the Ministry of Finance is counting the profits from skyrocketing exports.

Of course, the Crimean bridge became a symbol of the country's economic revival. What a sin to hide, not everyone believed that Russia was still capable of this. They twisted a finger at the temple, they say, where are you, Sivolapym. They offered to hire the Chinese. However, they managed, and brilliantly. What they were going to do for decades, but never got together, materialized and already serves people with might and main. It is characteristic that there was a “demand” for bridges across the country: to Sakhalin, through the Lena, etc. So, people believed. Russia can.

Are there any people in Russia who don’t like all this? Yes, there are some. The family is not without a freak, says the Russian people in such cases. But this is not scary. A few more years will pass, and Crimea will again become an organic part of the country, as it always has been, and skeptics will have to come to terms. And their children will be all the more for KrymNash, because children often deny their fathers. So time works in the Crimea and in Russia.

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I remember how in 1999 in the center of Sevastopol, near the building of the local Sailor's Club, I talked about the future of the peninsula with the brilliant naval retired officer Alexander Kruglov. He and his comrades went out regularly, all twenty years after the collapse of the Union, to the monument to Admiral Nakhimov - he demonstrated the unbroken spirit of the Crimeans, their desire to return home to Russia. He believed that one day this would happen ...

Sorry, the old man did not live. But it happened. And now the Russian flag flutters over the spire of the Sailor's Club.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.