With New Moves, Russia's Parliament Looks To Rewrite History

In the Soviet days, when Communist leaders periodically tried to rewrite history, the country's historians had a favorite joke: anyone can predict the future, they would say — what's hard is predicting the past.

The Soviet Union may now be history, but Russian lawmakers are busy trying to create their own version of the past.

Russia's parliament is considering several measures that would change the interpretation of major events in order to justify the country's actions today. The main driver is Russia's seizure of Crimea last March from Ukraine.

Russia calls that move a "reunification," but it's regarded as an illegal land grab by Ukraine, the United States the European Union and many other countries.

In making its case, Russia's upper house of parliament is considering legislation asserting that Crimea was never legally part of Ukraine in the first place.

Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev transferred the Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954 as a gift. It was an administrative move that didn't seem to matter much at the time, because both republics were part of the Soviet Union.