They can tell people living there to suck it up and they will. If there are some protests they will be swiftly and ruthlessly put down. People can live in the dirt for all Putin cares, the only thing that matters is that there is fuel for the military.
Crimea matters. It’s got Sevastopol and other ports and shipyards on the Black Sea, and it controls the Kerch strait.
Also the people trying to live there.
I mean, it matters a whole lot to the people there and the Kremlin. The average muscovite doesn’t give a shit
They can tell people living there to suck it up and they will. If there are some protests they will be swiftly and ruthlessly put down. People can live in the dirt for all Putin cares, the only thing that matters is that there is fuel for the military.