Ukraine and Russia have been experiencing a combination of chaos and calm for years. To think that this war is the beginning of the story of a clash between these two is absolutely wrong. Russia and Ukraine have a much more complicated history than we assume when we watch the TV news screen.
If we go back to the old pages of history, we can go back to the 9e century from which Ukraine and Russia drew their lineage. The Slavic peoples drew their lineage from a place called Kievan Rus, at that time kyiv was the capital. After that, there was a long history of tension between the two, but fast forward to the 1900s, the two were again under constant calm when they both flourished as industrial and agricultural bases for Soviet Union. But things began to get complicated again after the collapse of the USSR. After the collapse, Ukraine inherited much of the Soviet Union’s arsenal, but ceded it entirely to Russia in return for compensation from Moscow. The United States has also pledged aid to Ukraine. The United States has also promised to provide security assistance after Ukraine joins the NPT. Soon in 1994, Russia and Ukraine joined NATO’s collaborative arrangement for all European non-member states and post-Soviet territories. But in 2014, NATO officially severed ties with Russia, after which Russia criticized NATO’s eastern expansion. 1994 also marked the eventful agreement of the Budapest memorandum where Russia promised to recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine. After that, in the early years of the 2000s, Ukraine experienced a very worrying case of political crisis. There was a huge reel of agreements and opposition with the leaders of the 2 countries. A big corruption scandal erupts after the dubious evidence against the Russian leader. The year 2004 was followed by a great power struggle between the Yushchenko government and Yanukovych’s supporters, but the first victories were followed by the iconic Orange Revolution on the streets of Ukraine against the pro-Moscow leader and his supporters. But soon after Russia retaliated with the gas ban and the ensuing economic crisis surrounded the country of Ukraine, the government was toppled. The ensuing crisis was then followed by the 2008 Georgian invasion where the then Ukrainian leader sided with Georgia. Things started to change from that moment on. After discussions on an association agreement between the EU and Ukraine, the political situation in Ukraine changed enormously with the coming to power of the “pro-Moscow” Yanukovych government. Followed by some more questionable events, the Yanukovych government cancels the agreement with the EU, which leads to the historic Euromaidan protests that led to its name of “Independence Square”.
The beginning
2014 marked the first event that spirals into a new shape in the final page of 2022. Russia continues to annex Crimea. Now it also has a story. In 1954, Crimea was transferred from Russia to Ukraine but received special autonomy within Ukraine. The Russian military base was allowed to be there. In 2014, Russia also extended its support for separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk region, but the Ukrainian government only launched a direct offensive when Malaysian airlines shot down 17e July by the separatists. Following this, Ukraine launches an offensive and the separatists receive direct help from Russia. Soon the west meddled and the Minsk Accords were signed where ceasefire and military withdrawal were directed. Fast forward to 2022, we have all now noted that peace was never achieved, but the 8 years were just the calm before the storm. With Russia’s growing security demands against the United States and NATO and its growing influence in the Luhansk and Donetsk region – together the Donbass region – the world has deduced a potential risk in global diplomacy. The war broke out after Moscow considered the Zelensky government for several days to be a “puppet regime”. After the attacks in kyiv marking the official start of the war, the world faces an enormous uproar. The geopolitical and financial implications of this war were irreversible, but after its end the world sighed with relief, but as history has told us, peace between the two is still questionable.
Is Putin’s claim true?
Putin’s demands that the two be one and Ukraine belong to Russia are always in question because history speaks of other words. The constant draining of ethnic Ukrainians throughout the period from 1700 to 1940, including the massacre of 1934, shows very clearly that Eastern Ukraine’s connection with Russian culture and ideologies has been planned for many years now. with the constant replacement of ethnic Ukrainians by ethnic Russians. Coming back to the present day, the recent developments in the Kharkiv region and the Russian retaliation in the form of the recent flood have shown the world that the short period of calm is once again on the brink of destruction. As the world scene changes texture again, is this a beginning to an end or is this just another page of geopolitical history?
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