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In this photo taken Tuesday, March 11, 2014, men debate as people gather in a pro Russian camp in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine. The breakup of the Soviet Union and harsh economic realities of the market haven’t been kind to many local employers. Residents say many factories, including the locomotive works, have had to drastically cut both payrolls and production. Since Russian troops rolled into Crimea, and lawmakers there scheduled a referendum for Sunday on whether to join Russia, the world’s attention has focused on the fate of the lush peninsula that juts into the Black Sea. But here in Ukraine’s coal-fired industrial east, where Russians have lived for more than two centuries, a potent mix of economic depression, ethnic solidarity and nostalgia for the certainties of the Soviet past have many demanding the right to become part of Russia as well (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

In this photo taken Tuesday, March 11, 2014, men debate as people gather in a pro Russian camp in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine. The breakup of the Soviet Union and harsh economic realities of the market haven’t been kind to many local employers. Residents say many factories, including the locomotive works, have had to drastically cut both payrolls and production. Since Russian troops rolled into Crimea, and lawmakers there scheduled a referendum for Sunday on whether to join Russia, the world’s attention has focused on the fate of the lush peninsula that juts into the Black Sea. But here in Ukraine’s coal-fired industrial east, where Russians have lived for more than two centuries, a potent mix of economic depression, ethnic solidarity and nostalgia for the certainties of the Soviet past have many demanding the right to become part of Russia as well (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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