In this photo taken Tuesday, March 11, 2014, a man places a Ukrainian flag atop a tent alongside flags from Russia, center, and Belarus, left, at a tent camp set up by pro Russia activists in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine. Luhansk was home to one of the Soviet Union’s blue-ribbon factories that turned out locomotives deemed good enough to be designated IS--the Russian-language initials of Josef Stalin. 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)
Featured Photo Galleries
