This Thursday President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukrainian territory. Both Russia and the West see Ukraine as a buffer against the other.
Russia considers Ukraine within its natural sphere of influence. Most of the country was part of the Russian Empire for centuries, many Ukrainians speak Russian as their native language, and the country was part of the Soviet Union until gaining independence in 1991.
After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Ukraine became a Soviet republic; but, after its independence in 1991, tensions with Russia increased, although they culminated in 2014 with a pro-Western revolution (also called “color revolution”), which is characterized by the use of non-violent direct action, according to its supporters, and also marked by a speech of the west.
Russia was taken aback when an uprising in 2014 saw Ukraine’s president, on good terms with Russia, replaced by a government with clear Western leanings led by Volodomir Zelensky. After the end of the government of Viktor Yanukovych, various pro-Russian groups expressed their desire to reintegrate into the Russian Federation.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, a 44-year-old former comedian with no political experience, came to power in 2019 with the promise of zero tolerance towards corruption.
In 2014, Russia decided to annex the Crimean peninsula and has supported separatist rebels ever since. located in eastern Ukraine. This caused Russia to concentrate thousands of soldiers on the borders with Ukraine this year. In addition, another element that unleashed the conflict was that Vladimir Putin recognized on February 21 the independence from the self-styled breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, announcing the deployment of troops in those areas.
Putin now maintains that Ukraine is a Western puppet and was never a proper state anyway.
Their main demand now is that The West guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATOa defensive alliance of 30 countries.
“It is absolutely mandatory for us to ensure that Ukraine never ever becomes a member of NATO,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
NATO is a defensive alliance with an open door policy to new members and its 30 member states are convinced that it will not change.
The Reasons for the war between Russia and Ukraine intensified when Ukraine pressed the NATO to be part of the conglomerate member states.
However, this option is not viable for the Kremlin, which considers that its national security will be in danger if Ukraine finally joins the organization. (I)
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Source: Eluniverso
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