re: #25 Sergey Romanov

Which is not to say that he won’t try to annex, because the assumption behind this opinion is that Putin acts at least half-way rationally and mindful of the economic side of things, and that can certainly be doubted. Nevertheless, these banana republics have already asked to join Russia and there has been no reaction yet…

Basically, Putin wants the Ukraine coastline on the Black Sea which is the most valuable real estate. The rest of the oblasts can go pound sand.

It would cost many billions to construct a gas pipeline under the Black Sea.