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Punishing Russia for defending the rights of Crimean people wrong - expert - The Voice of Russia

−Many referendums have been announced in Europe in recent years and the tendency of secession is gaining popularity. What do you think, what’s the reason behind it?

I think that there are contravening forces operating in the world right now. We see a trend towards regionalization not only economically but also politically across the world with both of the EU, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Asian Pacific Economic Community, the Eurasian Union, etc. At the same time we see forces pulling apart at local ethnic levels. We see this in Scotland, in Catalonia, Venice wanting to declare themselves separate at a referendum, a separate republic from Italy. This is kind of a backlash, you could say, from globalization and this trend towards regionalization, you have forces pulling together at the macro level and forces pulling apart at the micro level at the same time.