The Impressions Of The Russian Conflict In Ukraine And The Ukraine

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

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.

The worst part about an overbearing parent is the powerless child. In some regards international relations are parallel to family dynamics. In familial relationships, we compile history, current roles, and personal viewpoints all together to understand our family, and to interact with them more effectively. The same is true when explaining how or why international crises occur. Russia, the overbearing parent, invaded Ukraine, the powerless child. In order to understand these roles and explain the crisis as a whole, we look at historical context, political and social factors, and the reasoning that dictates an actor’s behavior. After thorough research, a realist perspective shows Russia’s power tactics over Ukraine as advancing the polarization of the East, thus allowing us to create policy recommendations to face it.

Russian Aggression is referenced over 6 times in the National Security Strategy (NSS) dated in February 2015 with similar references being made in the excerpt from Reagan Administration (March 1987) Soviet Military Power (SMP). Two documents with almost 28 years’ time difference show the continued importance that aggression by a Russian element still play in today’s environment. More importantly the method of how such aggression continues towards those states who are struggling to maintain a functioning government. Important similarities to take into account for both time periods are these conflicts are focused around failing states in areas such as the Middle East. These types of geopolitical locations continue to be the outlet where the conflicting ideals from the United States

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

During the Cold War, the United States enacted the policy of containment to combat the spread of communism and pledged to contain the Soviet Union’s influence. The United States’ foreign policy had the intention of directly addressing the Soviet Union and all communist activity, without physically battling the them. The US enacted the Truman Doctrine as a major part of their foreign policy which pledged to aid all countries battling communism, which lead the foreign policy of the United States for the next 45 years. In addition, NATO was established as a way for the part of western Europe to defend themselves against communism (“Boundless Political Science”). However, the Crisis in Ukraine was addressed differently in regard the US foreign policy. As mentioned in the Foreign Policy Agenda of the Department of State, the US policy is to, “Create a more secure, democratic, and prosperous world for the benefit of the American people and the international community” (“Mission”). Instead of battling communism and Russia’s influence in the world, the US is only focusing on promoting democracy and create stability offered in that system. As mentioned earlier, Ukraine is in desperate need of stability and the guidance the EU and US may offer due to their foreign policy pledge and may help them reach that goal. With help from the US and

Unfortunately, these were not Yuschenko’s only setbacks. Economic issues, such as rising debt, hurt the Ukraine, and Russia became angry as Ukraine strengthened its relationship with the European Union. In apparent retaliation (though Russia claims this incident to be economically rather than politically motivated), Russia cut off its supply of natural gas in 2006 for a brief period of time because of Ukraine’s “use of row over prices” (bbc). In the same year, changes in the constitution were made, taking some powers from the president and instead giving them to the parliament.

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

With hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees leaving Syria everyday due to warlike conditions under the current Syrian regime, many have asked what the US government’s involvement can and should be. The current regime in Syria acts with international support from powerful countries, more specifically, Russia. This complicates matters in terms of US involvement due to how an aspect of Russia’s “power” can be defined internationally. For the purposes of this paper, Russia’s power or international advantage relies on the country’s nuclear capabilities. In cases of international conflicts, Russia can assert itself as a mechanism of support, and slow, or halt completely, the international political process due to unspoken, but heavily relevant, nuclear capabilities. Political disagreements between Russia and the U.S. increase complexity with the addition of military support. The use of military force muddies the progress of ongoing treaties between Russia and the U.S., and threatens the goals of U.S. nuclear policies. The new START nuclear weapons treaty targets reduction in potential nuclear posturing and increasing reliance on the use of diplomacy.

There has been a lot of turmoil in present day Ukraine, especially in Eastern Ukraine. In Eastern Ukraine there are still some people who identify as Russian and they want Eastern Ukraine to become a part of Russia. War has even broken out in cities like Donetsk with pro-Russian rebels. This has become an even greater problem because people in Donetsk are starving, and Ukraine decided that they wouldn’t help them until the rebels and the people of the city gave up wanting to be a part of Russia like Crimea. Also, the United States and NATO have stepped into the picture. President announced that the United States would support Ukraine and would jump in if Russia tried to make any advances. The Unites States has also even gone as far as to place sanctions on Russia. This has made the Russian economy go down dramatically. The Russian ruble has gone down in value. However, Russia claims that they have nothing to do with there violent protests in Donetsk. They deny providing any military support. The tension between Russia and US is similar now to how it was during the Cold War. That is why so many believe that we are in a second Cold War. It is as if the US and Russia are once again on the brink of full out

The crisis in Ukraine and Crimea’s recent accession to Russia are events that clearly highlight the underlying sources of conflict in global politics. While Russia sees its actions in Crimea as a “reunification” and the respect for the right of self-determination, the West views it as a threat to European security and a violation of territorial integrity. Crimea has been a debatable topic from the time it came under the control of the Russian Empire in 1783 during the reign of Catherine the Great. The justification then was similar to the reasoning being used by Vladimir Putin today. Catherine declared that she was protecting ethnic Russians in the region from the Ottoman Empire, much as Putin is claiming to protect Russians from Ukrainian

March 18, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the world regarding the annexation of Crimea. A referendum that took place only days before resulted in an 82% turnout rate, with over 90% of the ballots casting in favor of Crimea’s reunification with Russia (“History: What does Crimea,” 2014). Many questioned the reasoning behind Russia’s sudden need to reestablish its hold on Crimea; legally a Ukrainian territory. The Russian- Ukrainian relationship dates back to the ninth to the mid-thirteenth century in the Eastern Slavic state of Kievan Rus; an area that expanded from the Baltic to the Black Sea (Bates, 2014). The two countries have been linked to each other for centuries; they share a similar culture and sense of nationalism

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).

War, chaos, depression, and corruption are some of the words to describe the chaos in Ukraine. Since the 3 billion Eurobond lent to Ukraine by Russia weren’t paid off the money, revolution was sparked within the citizens of Ukraine and slowly erupting into something many people fear will start another catastrophic event in Europe. Even with the strong support of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Ukraine has but only two options, to move to E.U. or to move to the support of Russia, and the citizens are divided in half, the east and west, one side wanting to merge with Russia and the other wanting to merge with E.U.. And with Russia already annexing Crimea, which is located below Ukraine and Russia has tens of thousands troops lined up on the border and NATO not knowing what they should do, Ukraine is up in flames. Also with the president of Ukraine Yanokovych leaving and rejecting office unofficially to escape, leaving the balance of Ukraine in the hand of new president Oleksandr Twrchynov in charge of the disaster of what is now leading to an official civil war. The question is who is going to take action and when? NATO wanting to prevent a potential World War really doesn’t have any idea what they should do. And what does Russia even want from Ukraine? E.U. is trying to do everything possible to not take action, but from news reporters perspectives, these events could also relate to 1939 when Hitler took over all these nations and said the reason was that he

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.