even more inflammatory to the international community. just unilaterally annexing new territory. but it's an action that saves them from the vanuatu-style international humiliation they just went through a few years ago. i wonder if that means they're learning. joining us now, nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel who has been reporting from ukraine recently. richard, great to see you. >> i love that you blurred the videos. they dive off the towers naked except for wearing gourds. >> yes. there's gourds, leaf action. >> this is the only time i think there's been any broadcast on any television network where you're talking about vanuatu and abkhazia in the same sentence. >> but it ends up being, i think, part of the calculation that russia must be making here. this referendum, everybody knew there was going to be some sort of referendum staged in crimea in terms of how to try to normalize the russian invasion. did you know or should we have expected it would be to annex them into the russian federation? >> i think you're on to something here. can i take a step back? >> yeah, please. >> people are saying, putin's crazy, not acting rationally, he's an insane man who wants to