Independence, Famine, And Soviet Rule

The Ukraine and the U.S. Governments are similar and different in a lot of ways. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the two governments. The essay will begin with a breakdown of the countries’ governments. Then it will talk about each country’s history and culture. The essay will end with a summary of a current issue in each country.

In 1917, Russia was crumbling into pieces. The World War I was draining all of Russia’s resources. There was shortage of food throughout the country, which left people starving. At the battlefront, millions of Russian soldiers were dying, they did not possess many of the powerful weapons that their opponents had. The government under Czar Nicholas II was disintegrating, and a provisional government had been set up. In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia. However, in 1924, Lenin died and Josef Stalin assumed leadership of the Soviet Union, which was the name for the communist Russia. Stalin was a ruthless leader who brought

Russia, as a country, has had a long and proud history. However, for a small time starting in 1917, things started to take a turn for the worse. There was widespread famine, disease, and killing by the instituted government. There was also no Russia. Instead, there was the glorious United Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR. This new country did not come around peacefully, but instead under the 1917 Russian Revolution and the revolting communist Bolsheviks. The Russian people were not in a better condition after the Russian revolution due to Stalin’s leadership of his country; the reason being the GULAGs that Stalin was sending his people to, the communes that the peasants were sent to, and the disastrous effects of his five year plans.

While chaos continued to spread across the country, Russia began to eye the territory of Crimea, one if Ukraine’s most southwestern territories and an area that used to belong to Russia until it was transferred to Ukraine in 1954. By the end of February, masked Russian troops without insignias took over the Supreme Council of Crimea and several strategic sites across Crimea. This event led to the installation of the pro-Russian Aksyonov government in Crimea and the declaration of Crimea 's independence. This spurred the Ukraine’s provisional government to request an emergency meeting with the U.N. Security Council in which they called on Russia to stop all military action in Crimea. By Mach 1st, Russia’s parliament approves President Putin 's request to use force

As the rebellions began, he started to ship large amounts of grain out of the country, causing widespread starvation. Soon after, a drought hit Ukraine, and the Ukrainians found a deeper hatred for the Soviets. Lenin eventually stopped collecting as much grain from them, as they were beginning to rebel more.

Yet the election was not like the ones that preceded it- there were large scale demonstrations on the streets of Moscow and other metropolitan areas that were against (and some in support) of Putin. These large scale protests as Elkin notes while certainly disruptive and cast a negative light on Russia globally forced Putin to reaffirm his power when he won the election in 2012. Putin was as discussed by Moskowitz and others in class able to use the media to effectively convey his agenda. But Elkin also notes that the resurgence in popularity for Putin was not simply due to a stymied media presence. Putin strategically allowed Medvedev to become the nation’s prime minister, where he was relegated to a position where he could quietly work on making the changes he set during his presidency. Putin set about “restoring” national prestige by being firm on dealings with the west. In particular, during the crisis in Syria, he averted crisis by securing a deal that allowed Syria to dispose of the chemical weapons while also preventing U.S aggression. Elkin notes how Putin would frequently play on populism and patriotism in justifying his action- a formula which combined would ensure that in the crisis to come regarding the annexation of Crimea that he would have the support of the Russian people.

When you deprive people of food you take away their power, strength and now you control them now. Before Stalin era, the Ukraine was under the domination of Imperial Czars of Russia ruled for 200 years. In 1917, they collapsed and Vladimir Lenin took over, seizing everything that the Czars controlled. Coming next was four

The Ukraine was suspected of Rebellion early on and in order to keep their people from organizing, much like in Orson Well’s 1984, Stalin had ordered the intellectuals of the villages to be removed and either executed or put into prison camps he had set up to keep the rest of the people from gathering a rebellion.

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

Russia also pledged to uphold the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Crimea by signing the Budapest memorandum on the 5th of December 1994, providing for Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. One of the provisions of the memorandum was an assurance against threat or actual use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine. In March 1995, however, the parliament of Ukraine intervened and scrapped the Crimean Constitution removing Meshkov, along with his office, given his pro-Russian tendencies.

The conflict between the Ukraine and Russia is the Ukraine's most long-standing and deadly crisis; since its post-Soviet independence began as a protest against the government dropping plans to forge closer trade ties with the European Union. The conflict between Russia and the Ukraine stems from more than twenty years of weak governance, the government’s inability to promote a coherent executive branch policy, an economy dominated by oligarchs and rife with corruption, heavy reliance on Russia, and distinct differences between Ukraine's population from both Eastern and Western regions in terms of linguistics, religion and ethnicity (Lucas 2009).

During 1937 to 1939, several trials were held where many of the Old Bolsheviks were found guilty of treason. These trials became a means to exterminate potential political rivals and critics of Stalin. Those found guilty were executed. These publically held trials were accompanied by a widespread “purge”, that sent millions to prison camps. Among the purged were several of the Soviet Army’s military headships. A lack of experienced leadership played a significant role in the Soviet Union’s poor performance during the Second World War.

Russia's new strength is also based on its vast reserves of oil and natural gas, which as the price of crude exceeds $ 120 per barrel, give the country tremendous bargaining power, not only in its relations with countries directly dependent on its supplies as Ukraine, Germany and Hungary, but, in general, by the capacity of influence that give

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.