Russia - Ukraine Conflict The tensions on Ukraine’s border w | DREAMS CORE IAS STUDY CHANNEL
Russia - Ukraine Conflict
The tensions on Ukraine’s border with Russia are at their highest in years. Fearing a potential invasion by Russia, the US and NATO are stepping up support for Ukraine. In this article, we explain the reason for tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the latest developments, the stand of various stakeholders in the region, and the way forward for the IR segment.
Russia – Ukraine Conflict Background
Post the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukraine gained independence in 1991.
Ukraine was a member of the Soviet Union until 1991 when it disintegrated, and Russia has tried to maintain the country in its orbit since then.
In 2014, a separatist insurgency started in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, Donetsk Basin, also known as,
Russia further gained a maritime advantage in the region due to its invasion and annexation of Crimea.
As a result, both the US and the EU have pledged to safeguard the integrity of Ukraine’s borders.
Importance of Ukraine to Russia
Ukraine and Russia have shared cultural and linguistic ties for hundreds of years.
Ukraine was the most powerful country in the Soviet Union after Russia.
Ukraine has been a hub for commercial industries, factories and defence manufacturing.
Ukraine also provides Russia with access to the Black Sea and crucial connectivity to the Mediterranean Sea.
Reasons for Russian Aggression
The chief reasons for Russian aggression are discussed below.
Economic Factors
Russia, considering the economic significance of Ukraine, sought Ukraine’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC), which is a free trade agreement that came into being in 2015.
With its huge market and advanced agriculture and industrial output, Ukraine was supposed to play an important role. But Ukraine refused to join the agreement.
Geo-Political and Strategic Factors
Russia claims that the eastward expansion by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which they call “enlargement”, has threatened Russia’s interests and has asked for written security guarantees from NATO.
NATO, led by the U.S., has planned to install missile defence systems in eastern Europe in countries like Poland and the Czech Republic to counter Russia’s intercontinental-range missiles.
Enlargement of NATO
NATO is a military alliance of twenty-eight European and two North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense.
Enlargement of NATO is the process of including new member states in NATO.
Since the German unification in 1990, NATO has added new members five times.
The alliance had 12 founding members in 1949, which currently has 30 members.
Members include three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that share borders with Russia.
Members also include Hungary, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, all of them were a part of the former Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.
Russia – Ukraine Latest Developments
Russia has been indulging in military build-up along its border with Ukraine, an aspiring NATO member. Russia has stated that its troop deployment is in response to NATO’s steady eastward expansion. Russia argues that its moves are aimed at protecting its own security considerations.
Russia has mobilised around 1,00,000 troops on its border with Ukraine.
Russia seeks assurance from the US that Ukraine shall not be inducted into NATO.
This has resulted in tensions between Russia and the West which have been supportive of Ukraine. The U.S. has assured Ukraine that it will “respond decisively” in case of an invasion by Russia.
Russia’s demands
Russia has demanded a ban on further expansion of NATO that includes countries like Ukraine and Georgia that share Russia’s borders.
Russia asked NATO to pull back its military deployments to the 1990s level and prohibit the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the bordering areas.
Further, Russia asked NATO to curb its military cooperation with Ukraine and other former Soviet republics.
