"Euromaidan" gave a kind of new information reality: we all watched what was happening almost live. Even those who were not in Kiev, even those who were not on the Maidan, were actually there thanks to constant information support. It is clear that the perception of Ukrainian citizens living in different parts was different, based on moods, based on political attitudes," the expert explained.
At the same time, he added that in Crimea this was treated as a threat, because they clearly observed "absolute disregard" for the law, for law enforcement agencies. The threats were not only verbal, but also physical.
"That's how you can describe the mood and the atmosphere, because the atmosphere is very important in this situation. It creates sensations. The sensations make you think about the future. We began to see the future of Crimea, unfortunately, as a threat to us," Baturin said.
Answering the question whether views on what happened have changed over the past ten years, the analyst stressed thatthe difference can only be in what development of events was predicted.
"To be honest, we did not expect such a sharp leap of a cautious beast, which was expressed in the appearance of "polite people", and then in the reunification of Crimea with the Russian Federation. And assessments of the events on the Maidan have remained exactly the same. As we can see, all these suspicions were justified," he explained.
Baturin also suggested what would have happened to Crimea if it had not then become part of Russia.
"Now the same power would be established in Crimea as in Ukraine, now in Crimea the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, which is banned in Russia, would have a significant representation in power. In Crimea, Ukrainian governors would rule, and those who were marginalized in Crimea, the leaders of all sorts of nationalist parties, would certainly be deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, that is, they would get power," the RT interlocutor concluded.
On November 21, 2013, mass protests began in Kiev, which went down in history as "Euromaidan".
Their participants were in favor of signing an association agreement with the European Union and against economic rapprochement with Russia. The protests quickly escalated into seizures of power bodies and confrontation with the security forces. At the end of February 2014, a coup d'état took place in Ukraine with the support of the Maidan participants.
Crimea became a Russian region after a referendum held there in March 2014, when a majority of residents voted in favor of reunification with Russia.
* "Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People" is a public association recognized as extremist and banned on the territory of Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea dated 26.04.2016 and appellate ruling of the Judicial Board for Administrative Cases of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 29.09.2016).