> You don't seem to argue with the statement that if Russia were to retreat an ethnic cleansing would follow. Too bad you also seem to find it an acceptable solution.

Booting out people who have illegally invaded and occupied your land is not ethnic cleansing.

> Which means that people whose ancestors have lived there for hundreds of years don't qualify as indigenous.

Yes, which applies equally to Russians and non-Russians, so you can't complain the law is some slight against Russians.

> It didn't start with the invasion. It didn't even start in 2014. In 1991 George Bush Sr. was talking in Kiev about "suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred"[0].

The full quote is "Americans will not support those who seek independence in order to replace a far-off tyranny with a local despotism. They will not aid those who promote a suicidal nationalism based upon ethnic hatred." He was referring to the wars between ethnic groups in Yugoslavia that occurred as the country broke apart. It was warning Ukraine not to do something similar.

> It's on the order of magnitude fewer people than the Ukraine would deport according to the article. And no, Russia hasn't been moving people there, those who moved moved voluntarily attracted by the climate and the job opportunities -- there is a lot to build in Crimea after 25 years of punishing neglect by the Ukraine.

The exact number of settlers is an estimate, the point is they would need to leave. Your country has been pumping billions of dollars in subsidies into Crimea with the express purpose of attracting mainlanders, among other government-sponsored incentives. It's an explicit goal in occupied Crimea's development plans. No one is being loaded up on train cars and shipped to Crimea, but your government clearly wants Russians to move there and is working to make that happen.

> Mejlis isn't representative of Crimean Tatars and their calls for ethnic cleansing of Russians are repugnant. Here is what a pre-war poll showed: "Support for joining Russia remains very high (86 percent in 2014 and 82 percent in 2019) — and is especially high among ethnic Russians and Ukrainians. A key change since 2014 has been a significant increase in support by Tatars, a Turkic Muslim population that makes up about 12 percent of the Crimean population." [1]

There is a constant torrent of propaganda coming from Moscow directed at well-meaning but gullible Russians. (The survey was conducted by a Russian company and couldn't even use the word "annex" because it's banned. And even if it was correct, support for joining Russia is not a justifiable reason for forced annexation)

> As you said, there is a war going on.

It's an unprovoked invasion and colonization by your country. You can twist yourself into pretzels trying to justify it but that's what it is.

> It's bizarre that the transfer of orphans from the war zone to safety you list as something bad.

This is a disgusting excuse. Its a war zone that your country has created, and it's not about their safety, otherwise they would be transferred back to Ukraine:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abductions_in_the_Russo-...
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/posterchild-russias-rem...

> That's hardly true. There is a constant torrent of propaganda coming from Kiev directed at well-meaning but gullible Westerners.

It is true: https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/04/01/new-crimean-land-l...