The G8 Research Paper

Russia is the largest threat facing the United States [25]. The threat from Russia specifically comes from not only their supply of nuclear weapons and their advanced military, but their “intent” behind the use of their military power. The state’s recent aggression against surrounding countries shows the attempt to reclaim international influence [25]. Their “behavior”’ in “Crimea, Georgia, and Ukraine,” has prompted the global community to rethink security in Europe. [25] Russian nationalism, and a desire to recoup their prestige from the cold war is an invitation for confrontation [25].

Instead of becoming closer to Russia, the United States should make sure that Russia does not threaten their power, and keep them in constant military check.

Khrushchev handed over Crimea to Ukraine to mark the 300th anniversary of the merging of Ukraine. The United States should not put people at fault when they were not given a choice in which country they wanted to live in. This decision was made arbitrarily and done behind the scenes; at that time since they were still part of the USSR, nobody considered it a big deal. It was a personal gesture towards his favorite republic, the Ukrainian Republic. Khrushchev was the only man in power at the time, nobody dared to question him. Again, this shows that the Crimean people did not have any judgment towards this so it would be wrong of The United States to pull in troops. At that time, nobody had ever thought that the Iron Curtain could actually fall (Putin).Crimean people were assured to always be part of the union which included Russia. The Russian people in Crimea had a sense of security that they would always belong to a super power. Since this was breached with the fall of the Soviet Union, The Crimean people were stuck in another territory. Demonstrating that, Vladmir Putin said “Millions of people went to bed in one country and awoke in different ones, overnight becoming ethnic minorities in former Union republics, while the Russian nation became one of the biggest, if not the biggest ethnic group in the world to be divided by borders.” Crimea was

Soviets resented the carving up of parts of Russia. (See map, Chapter 19, p. 606.)

The US’s global influence and power place a broad range of intervention tools at its disposal. Even though tensions between Russia and Ukraine are lower than they were a couple of years ago, the impact of the US is visible. First, in the form of economic and political sanctions against Russia (Daiss, 2016). These penalties have proved costly to Russia and in some way have deterred further Russian aggression.

"America … has an interest in a strong and responsible Russia, not a weak one. We want the Russian people to live in security, prosperity and dignity like everyone else -- proud of their own history. But that does not mean Russia can run roughshod over its neighbors. Just because of Russia’s deep history with the Ukraine, does not mean it should be able to dictate Ukraine’s future.” (state.gov). President Barack Obama, in March 2014, expressed the need for a more accountable and mindful Russia.

The roaring anti-Americanism proclaimed by Russian leaders and reflected on government-controlled television has provoked an ugly point with shameless capture of Crimea. Putin has made clear that he doesn’t care about international norms and

Millions of citizens in Crimea have been left in the dark and have to depend on candles and back up generators. The blackout was executed by the Tatar a far right Ukrainian nationalist group in Crimea who were against the annexation. The situation has become so bad that authorities have stopped trade with Crimea until they have the situation under control. Russia reaction to the blackout is it’s threatening to cut gas and coal supply to

In addition to Russia wanting to spread its ways of communism, it also wanted to repair its borders. It wanted to add on to them and make them stronger. They didn't want a repeat of Germany. They had been attacked by Germany twice in 40 years. This too was against Americas

The ways by which we can achieve these ends are described in the NSS and NMS. First, multilateral sanctions in conjunction with allied nations will be used to levy “costs and deter future aggression” . Further, the United States has recommitted to honoring our security commitments with allies within the Russian sphere of influence with the intent of serving as a deterrent to Russian aggression via improved defensive capabilities (for countries such as

The crisis started with Crimea, when soldiers began to take control of strategic positions in the Ukrainian territory. Russia then annexed the small territory, while Putin denied Russian military involvement. He finally admitted that the military had been active in Crimea and had laid the groundwork for what is known as the Crimean Status Referendum. While a ceasefire has been enacted, in the final hours before it occurred, Putin sent what United States State Department called “large amounts” of arms, including tanks, missiles and rocket launchers, to pro-Russia rebels battling the Ukraine government in Crimea and other parts of Eastern

become a unified state because its leaders never satisfied the needs of the Russian citizens, didn’t

After the break up of the Soviet Union it became obvious that the leaders of the Russian Federation didn’t welcome attempts by the European Union and NATO to extend their sphere of influence into countries once part of the Soviet Union nor did they approve of any of the former Soviet satellite states encouraging this influence. Furthermore, it has also become well known that Putin and many others within the Russian government, along with his allies elsewhere, dislike the detachment of Crimea from Russia for a multitude of reasons, not limited to the historic and

The loss of resources also sent Russia into an economic decline. When Ukraine became an independent country, it refused to let Russia to use the Military port at Sevastopol, which was the home of the Black Sea fleet for more than two centuries. In Georgia Russia lost an airbase called Bombura, which was the largest in the Caucasus. “Russia has worked very hard in recent years to demonstrate that it is a global power” (Oliker Olga 2015). This can be seen in Russia’s bold annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Georiga. Russia also sees itself the balance of power to counter the United States. When the civil war in Syria broke out Russia intervened in 2015 to help Assad and to protect its only naval port to the Mediterranean and its only remaining military base from the Soviet Union days.

According to Doran, the Kremlin’s motive is clearly to end the role that Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Moldova, currently plays in the transit of gas to the EU through the Brotherhood and the Trans-Balkan pipelines. The success of Nord Stream 2 could potentially result in the loss of billions of dollars in transit revenues for Ukraine and Moldova, as well as diminishing their geopolitical importance for Europe, while subsequently enabling Russia to reassert its old influence over them by exploiting their diminished energy security.