• Dear Friend,
• Over the last few weeks, I've gotten a number of questions about the situation in Ukraine, so I wanted to take the opportunity to offer a brief update.
• Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became an independent state with the peninsula of Crimea as its southern border. Toward the end of the Sochi Olympics in Russia this year, protests began on the Crimean peninsula. By March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill to absorb the peninsula of Crimea into the Russian Federation. Since then, pro-Russian forces have rushed into the peninsula with more arriving at the new Ukraine-Russia border each day.

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