Crimea’s annexation was an easy strategic win immune to Western sanctions

Evidence

The peninsula was home to a hugely important naval base (far more crucial to the Russian military than the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain was to Barack Obama), and the local population was not going to complain. The annexation was formalized on March 18. The West slapped sanctions on Putin, and he withstood them. The annexation of Crimea was wildly popular in Russia. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 520

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Putin annexed Crimea easily because expedience outweighed international-law costs — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 520; Russian annexation of Crimea aimed to protect its Sevastopol naval base from NATO — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 39; Economic sanctions against autocratic regimes entrench them rather than topple them — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1207 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Putin annexed Crimea easily because expedience outweighed international-law costs #expands (0.85) — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 520
• Economic sanctions against autocratic regimes entrench them rather than topple them #complicates (0.78) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1207
• Russia took Crimea partly to protect its Sevastopol naval base from NATO #qualifies (0.78)
• Russian annexation of Crimea aimed to protect its Sevastopol naval base from NATO #qualifies (0.72) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 39