the Internet and technology should be above politics.
- I am not sure about this, sometimes politics threatens the Internet itself. Putin clearly considers the Internet to be "a CIA project" and Russia is heading to its own walled network where you won't need Google technology anyway. Haven't Github and Youtube been blocked in Russia already? Even more, don't be surprised if one day you are arrested for mere fact of using Tor/i2p. So don't blame Google much, it's what Crimeans have chosen themselves: mirage of the "rich" and "mighty" state over freedom and democracy.