Russian-Ukraine Conflict Brief

Russia and Ukraine are two of the most contentious issues in international relations at the moment. Let us properly discuss and comprehend the matter.

Geography of both the countries

Russia is a country that spans both Europe and Asia due to its geographical location. In spite of the fact that the majority of its landmass is located in Asia, the nation’s capital Moscow, and the vast majority of its people live in Europe. This country is consistently ranked as one of the most powerful nations on the planet.

The Ukraine is located in the south-western section of Russia and was a part of the USSR up until the year 1994.

History/Relation

Up to the year 2014, Russia and Ukraine were the countries that shared the same geographical location, had the same population, and engaged in cultural and commercial interchange with one another.

After the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, the Russo-Ukrainian War started in 2014, when unmarked Russian forces invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and eventually annexed it. This was after the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity had taken place. During the same time period, pro-Russian insurgents and the Ukrainian military were fighting a struggle to determine who would govern eastern Ukraine. On February 24, 2022, Russia began a full-scale invasion of the mainland of Ukraine across a broad front. The assault began on that day. Because of this, the situation escalated, and Ukraine was ultimately obliged to sever all formal diplomatic ties with Russia.

In order to preserve Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence, the country’s foreign policy struck a healthy balance between cooperating with the European Union (EU), Russia, and other key powers.n with the European Union (EU), Russia, and other important powers.

After the Ukrainian Revolution of 2014, which was then followed by Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, and as a result of Russia’s support for the separatist fighters of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic in a war that had claimed the lives of more than 13,000 people by the beginning of 2020 and resulted in Western sanctions against Russia, relations between the two countries deteriorated.

Reasons for attacking Ukraine

1. Economic Factor -Given the importance of Ukraine to Russia’s economy, Russia actively pursued Ukraine’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Community (EAEC), which is a free trade area that was established in 2015.It was expected that Ukraine will play a significant role due to the size of its market as well as its developed agriculture and industrial output. However, Ukraine did not accept to become a party to the deal.
2. Geographical factor -Because Russia believes that the “enlargement” of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the east has put its national interests in jeopardy, it is demanding written assurances of NATO’s commitment to its members’ safety.In order to counter Russia’s intercontinental missiles, NATO, which is led by the United States, has planned to build missile defence systems in Eastern European states such as Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries include Poland and the Czech Republic.

Other Reasons

• The conflict over Ukraine has grown between Washington and Moscow.
• Russia wants the West to stop Ukraine and other former Soviet countries from joining NATO. It also wants the West to stop building up military forces near its borders and pull troops out of Eastern Europe.
• Ukraine’s desire to join NATO has not been favourably received by Russia.
• If Ukraine is permitted to join NATO, Russia believes the organisation will march closer to its borders.
• If Ukraine joins NATO, it will be able to rely on the alliance’s members for defence against external assaults.
• So, according to Russia, if Ukraine joins NATO, it might try to retake Crimea.
• Recently, Putin also voiced his concerns in this regard. Putin wants to re-establish Moscow’s dominance throughout the post-Soviet sphere, hence, Russia insists that the West remain out of Ukraine.
• After the fall of the Soviet Union, 14 former republics, including Ukraine, came under the control of Russia.
• Putin finds this to be terrible because both nations formerly “shared a single historical and spiritual territory.” The West and Ukraine must provide guarantees that Russia won’t join and that Ukraine would demilitarise and become a neutral state, according to the Russian president.

NATO stand on the war

• NATO regarded this conflict as a war against the West.
• NATO strongly condemns Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, a close ally and an independent, peaceful, and democratic country.
• Ukraine continues to receive extraordinary levels of support from NATO and its allies, assisting in upholding its fundamental right to self-defense.

Response from the west

• The United States says that NATO’s “open-door policy,” which allows new members to join at any time, cannot be changed.
• Additionally, the United States promises to keep providing Ukraine with training and weapons.
• According to reports, the U.S. might be open to talking about deploying missiles and reducing joint military drills in Eastern Europe.
• Germany has also told Russia that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will not be built if it invades Ukraine.
• In cases of invasion attempts against Ukraine, the U.S. warns Russia by implementing further economic penalties.

Russia-Ukraine (latest development)

• Nearly 100,000 troops have been deployed by Russia along its border with Ukraine.
• Russia wants the US to guarantee that Ukraine won’t be admitted to NATO.
• As a result, there are now conflicts between Russia and the West, who have supported Ukraine. In the event of a Russian invasion, the U.S. has assured Ukraine that it will “act firmly

EFFECTS OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR ON INDIA

• India will be forced to choose between Russia and the Western Alliance in the event of a Russian invasion.
• India’s national interests are served by maintaining a close relationship with Russia.
• India can’t join any Western plan to isolate Russia because India needs to keep a strong strategic alliance with Russia.
• Due to the S-400 A agreement between the US and Russia, there is a chance that the US will impose CAATSA penalties on India. This could have an impact on Russia’s relations with China. Because of this, India might be able to step up its efforts to rebuild ties with Russia.
• The problem with Ukraine is that geopolitically and economically, the world is becoming more intertwined. India is affected by any improvement in relations between China and Russia.