Crisis in the Ukraine

Ukraine wouldn’t be having any trouble if Russia didn't help supply the rebels in Ukraine going

Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, most post-Soviet satellite states began making the transition to become liberal democracies. However, the transition from communist governments to democratic governments was not necessarily a smooth one for most of the Eastern European countries. Decades of oppressive Soviet rule and deep-rooted communist parties made ties to the Soviet Union especially hard to cut. Ukraine, in particular, struggled mightily to break away from the Russian communists, and that struggle is still continuing today. In the form of a corrupt government and pro-Russian supporters in South and Eastern Ukraine, roadblocks were created on the Ukrainian road to democracy that they are still trying to maneuver.

In 2009, Russia again stopped supplying gas to Ukraine, this time because of “unpaid bills and price disputes,” although this was resolved when the two countries signed a ten year gas transit deal. In 2010, Yanukovych, the winner of the first 2004 election, became president. That same year, the parliament also agreed to an extension of Russia’s lease of its Black Sea fleet base in

The two countries, Russia and Ukraine, had different reactions towards the armed violence and impeachment of the Ukrainian president. Although the majority of the Ukrainians opposed Viktor’s decision to procrastinate the signing the EU-Ukraine integration agreement, all the ex-presidents accused for its interference with the affairs of Crimean. The former presidents of Ukraine, including Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma described the present crisis as Russia’s political interventions designed to interfere with the internal affairs of Ukraine and its relationship with the European Union (Hanschke 1). The people of Crimea have not been seeking for secession from Ukraine, but their interest is to have extended autonomy and rights to govern the Crimean affairs with minimum involvement of the government of Ukraine. Russia, on the other hand, have dismissed the accusation and stated that it is pursuing the interest of the people of Crimea to join the Federation of Russia. Russia holds that the people of Crimea have the power to decide the future of their territory and Russia will be ready to respect their decision. Study shows that about 90

The reason why the crisis started, however, was how the Ukraine economy was set up in the first place. Their economy was heavily tied with their politics. Focusing on more so what happened in the country rather than why it happened leads us to see that Russia recently cut off the gas line between the two countries. (BBC, 2014) This was an important resource, not only for the Ukrainian people, but also for many Ukrainian businesses. Ukraine’s economy relies heavily on “Shipbuilding, steel and arms. However, because many industries are so energy-inefficient, they are highly dependent on imports of Russian gas, which have been heavily subsidized.” (BBC, 2014) When Russia cut off the gas line, Ukrainian businesses were hurt and forced to cut costs in order to make a profit. Many of their businesses ended up firing workers so their businesses were able move back to their individual equilibrium. Because this happened, Ukraine’s unemployment rate increased dramatically along with a decrease in real wages for employees. (BBC, 2014) “Traditionally, Ukraine has had a close economic relationship with Russia, with the two former Soviet republics having a

In 2013 as Ukraine was negotiating with the European Union, President Putin was also conducting secret meetings with the president of Ukraine. These secret meetings helped sway the President of Ukraine to decide against joining the union and striking a deal with Russia for oil and natural gas. This was the starting point for the Ukrainian revolution in 2014. The Ukrainian President found refuge in Russia after he was exiled for his decision to join Russia and not the European Union. Now with Ukraine in disarray, Putin had a new plan; he secretly sent soldiers into Crimea. Putin saw Crimea as a vital piece of land that could help Russia by giving them a seaport, which is more accessible to the rest of the world. This would also give Russia the chance to strengthen their navy by giving them a more direct route to the west in order to defend themselves from the west. Starting October 2014 reports surfaced that there were troops in Crimea. Putin and Russia’s government denied all claims that the troops were Russian soldiers. By March 2, 2015, Russia acknowledged that they had sent troops to the border of Ukraine to protect Russia from any actions towards Russia. By March 16, Russia announced that troops are in Ukraine and that they held the majority of the government buildings in Crimea. This sparked the first set of sanctions from the west. Mostly economic, Russia was able to hold out and not be affected by these sanctions. The second set of sanctions hit their businesses and many of Putin’s friends, which he appointed. This is when Putin started to negotiate with the west. Crimea then held a vote to see if they would join Russia or stay part of Ukraine. 90% voted in favor of joining Russia. Putin’s controversial and secretive acts had paid off and Crimea is now part of

Since establishing independence from the Soviet Union, Ukraine has experienced its most prolonged and deadly crisis which has deconstructed government plans to create closer economic and trade ties with the European Union while also enticing a global impasse between Russia and the Western powers. The roots of the crisis stem from decades of inefficient and corrupt governance, an unbalanced economic system dominated by oligarchs, heavy reliance on Russia, and socioreligious differences between the Eastern and Western parts of Ukraine. Following the coup d’etat of President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014, Russian operations to begin the take over of the Crimean Peninsula implied Russian intentions to expand its sphere of influence while

The Ukrainian Revolution started as peaceful protest in 2013 but quickly rose to a chaotic revolution after a horrible series of events. In 2013 the protests were started students when work on an association agreement with the European Union had been suspended by Ukraine. This would have have been a huge step for Ukraine. By signing the association agreement they would have been more involved with Russia and the east after being mostly isolation from them since the 17th century. The protest continued on peacefully until November 30th in 2013. On that day Berkut special forces were sent to “clear out” the students during a protest. Live video was taken of the special forces beating these students bloody with rubber

In the twenty-five years since the collapse of the Soviet Union the United States has kept a close watch on the conduct of Russia and former Soviet states. Numerous U.S. agencies and departments have closely monitored the most recent conflict between Ukraine and Russia in the last twelve months. Ukrainian-Russian separatists have, since February 2014, led militia based attacks through Ukraine specifically the region of Crimea, where there is a strong push

According to an issue of the Wall Street Journal dated 27/March-2014, Russia is still massing troops near the Russian/Ukraine border; the question is “Will Russia/Putin’s uses this buildup as a staging platform for another attack on Ukraine?” These actions by Russia are occurring despite President Putnuns assurances that he has no intentions of violating Ukraine territorial integrity. In addition Putin’s actions runs contra to a an agreement called “The Budapest Memorandum” of 1994, where Russia along with the US pledge to uphold that same integrity- Crimea would seem to make that Russian so much hot air.

During late 2013 in Ukraine the leading government decided against an agreement with the EU that would place Ukraine in the union of nations, instead opting to support and side with their Russian neighbours. Following this decision large protests began sprouting up in the more west favouring regions of the country, primarily Kiev and its surrounding area; these protests then sparked unrest in the opposing areas of the nation (Crimea and the southeast) where the raining government run by Viktor Yanukovych garnered much of its support. The rising instability of the country is what eventually led to the armed conflicts between supporters of the two opposing ideologies and eventually Russians involvement both politically and in the form of military. Due to this involvement other international organizations and their affiliated members have become involved in the conflict through mostly economic and political means, however questions have been raised to whether these relatively non-combative measures have had a large enough effect onto their intended targets (in this case Russia and/or Ukraine) to be a legitimate course of action in dire situations, as seen in the Minsk protocol the Russian government and separatist forces they are willing to do whatever is needed to accomplish their goals. Then the legitimacy of the key players is brought into question on a moral standpoint, has Russia overstepped their bounds, is Ukraine at fault in any way and are any of their decisions

To better understand the context of Russia’s intervention in the Ukrainian crisis, one has understand that Ukraine and Russia share a very complex historical relation with one another. Dating back to the formation of Kievan Rus in the 9th century, Ukraine has shared a varying relationship with Russia ranging from a region of the Russian empire to one of the 15 states comprising the Soviet Union. This historical relationship, however has to the leading cause of the Ukrainian civil war. For much of Russia’s history, Russia had enacted domestic policies favoring the teaching of Russian customs and the Russian language collectively known as Russification as well as relocation of native populations. As a result, modern Ukraine has become a heterogeneous country. According the CIA’s ‘World Fact Book’, ethnic Ukrainians currently compose 77.8% of the population with ethnic Russians making up the largest minority at 17.3% while language wise,

Under international law Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula is illegal as the Referendum held on the 16th of March by Russia infringed upon the

Recently, Ukraine has fallen to times of turmoil, and the state of the economy is not helping either. Originally, Ukraine wanted to make a trade agreement with Europe, perhaps also bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union. This brought outage among its people, sparking riots that are still present today. Plenty of people have been injured or even killed in these uprisings, making it a deadly ordeal for officials to take control, or at least come up with a truce to promote peace. A country in crisis both between its people and economically, could have a negative effect not only on the countries immediately surrounding it, but the world as a whole. The crisis in Ukraine is a serious issue and it effects everyone economically present in the world. There are several areas that a crisis in a single country like Ukraine could pose a whole economic domino effect throughout the rest of the world.

The political relations between Ukraine and Russia as the two independent subjects of international relations were established in 1991 after the eighth December of the same year signed the Belavezha agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, which marked the end of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as " subject of international law and geopolitical reality "and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States. From that moment we can talk about the beginning of the existence of full political relations between Russia and Ukraine.