Anne Applebaum is factually wrong on Crimea in the Washington Post Op-Ed of Sunday, December 25, 2015 where she claims to have been the victim of “fake news”.

Applebaum’s error is in effect a product of “fake news” narratives which the mainstream media continues to misuse.

The Ukranian Autonomous Republic of Crimea declared independence and decided to return to the Russian Federation on 18 March 2014 after the violent coup against the democratically elected President Victor Yanukovych.

The “ Russian invasion” narrative is literally “ Fake News “ since anyone who either is aware of the history of Crimea or does some cursory research, knows that Crimea has been an integral part of Russia since 1783.

Crimea was historically part of Russia, and then in 1954, President Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR, who was born in the Ukraine, gave that Soviet republic added autonomy.

As even Forbes magazine notes, in an article dated March 20, 2015, .

“ The U.S and European Union may want to save Crimeans from themselves. But the Crimeans are happy right where they are:”

A total of 82.8% of Crimeans said yes in a referendum and when broken down by ethnicity, 93.6% of ethnic Russians said they believed the vote to secede from the Ukraine was legitimate, a Gallup poll published in June 2104 determined.