Russia- Ukraine Crisis

On 24^th February 2022, Russian forces stormed into the Ukrainian border which shocked the whole nation and raised fear and panic among the masses of a new world war. However, since we live in an atomic age, the threat of a full-scale nuclear war is minimal. Most nuclear weapons state stamp their authority by using proxy wars. Some examples include the Korean War, the War in Vietnam, and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

While the problems between Russia and Ukraine are quite old with issues related to ownership of Crimea, and the Balkan Sea. Here we would discuss the most recent issues that led to the escalation of their conflict.

After the second world war, the defeated German nation was divided into two nations: West Germany went to the Capitalists UK and USA while East Germany went to the communists the Soviet Union. Since the Soviets had such a huge part in defeating Germany, all the nations leading up to Russia to East Germany came under the Warsaw Pact (sort of like NATO for communists state), meaning if any country coming under the Warsaw Pact is attacked the whole communist bloc will attack the aggressor. But since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Warsaw pact was deemed null and void.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the communist party leader, made a verbal agreement with the then US President George Bush that the NATO nations will remain under the western part of Europe and will not be extended on the Eastern side. Eventually, NATO started gathering nations under its wing. It’s only natural if an army of twenty-seven countries comes close to my border, then I would surely react.  This was the problem with Putin as he didn’t want NATO forces this close to the Russian border. According to him, they were just one “Military Exercise” away from invading Russia.

Despite putting many sanctions on Russia, including kicking it out from the G8 countries, Russia did not relent. That’s because now Russia is an Economic Powerhouse. Oil and Gas are produced abundantly in Russia. Most of Europe’s homes are being heated up by Russian-produced gas. Obviously, with so much leverage over the European nations, Russia will see what it sees fit for her well-being, without any fear of repercussions.

There is little sign of this war ending in the immediate future. President Putin, although claiming that he is willing to negotiate through table talks, these words are hollow the talks seem to be reaching a dead-end. Ukraine has already accepted that it cannot join NATO because of the Russian invasion as fears of a nuclear fallout would increase. Ukraine has said that it would remain a neutral state with no foreign military bases inside the country.

Since gaining independence from the Soviets in 1991, Ukraine has looked to the West for support both from the EU and NATO. Russia has sought to reverse that, seeing the Soviet collapse as a national shame, and the interference by the Western Bloc on Ukrainian soil as a personal matter.

Russia as usual has tried to silence dissent in its own country, with the protest against the war banned and many student and political activists being jailed from time to time. There has been a big exodus of IT workers and other professionals and the political opposition has either fled or been jailed, as in the case of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.