by John Maryon Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians are predominantly from the East Slav sub-group of the Slavic people. Crimean Tatars form an important ethnic group of the population of Crimea. The fertile lands of mineral rich Ukraine were for centuries shared between the Poles and the Mongols. By 1500 the Ottoman empire had expanded and taken over South East Ukraine and Crimea. In 1654, following years of conflict with the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Cossack leader of Ukraine pledged allegiance to the Czardom of Russia in exchange of protection. Russian influence increased and in 1797 Catherine the Great established the port city of Odessa and the region became an important part of the Russian Empire. Today most people have heard of the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, Balaclava and the Charge of the Light Brigade. It was an imperialist conflict for Middle East influence between Russia and an alliance of France, Britain and Turkey....