Fears of a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia have caused an escalation of tensions between Moscow and the West. This Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin began exercises with ballistic and cruise missiles. According to a Kremlin spokesman, the activities are not alarming.
(In context: Russia conducts ballistic missile drills chaired by Putin)
But how did the conflict between Ukraine and Russia start that has the world on edge? We tell you.
Some believe it is a personal obsession of President Vladimir Putin, but others say it is an attempt to return to a kind of new Cold War, according to the BBC.
Historically, Ukraine has been invaded by other empires, such as the Mongol in the 13th century, and by its neighbors, including a Moscow-centered Russia, who continuously carved up the land between them until the early 20th century. Although this country enjoyed a brief period of independence, between 1918 and 1920, it later joined the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991.
(See: 3 keys that explain why Ukraine is so important for Russia)
Since then, Ukraine has enjoyed full political independence, but the intentions of NATO (which is an intergovernmental political and military alliance) regarding its annexation, as happened with countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, fueled Russian concern about the invasion. foreign. Gas pipelines, protests in Kiev, Crimea and separatist militias are part of the chain of events that led to the current crisis.
The Kremlin demands a commitment that Ukraine will never join NATO, explains BBC; In addition, Russia establishes limitations on the troops and weapons that can be deployed in the countries that joined that alliance after the fall of the Soviet Union and requires the withdrawal of the military infrastructure installed in the Eastern European states after 1997.
“Russia is pursuing these policies at the moment because it perceives that a country that is close to its border is becoming a platform for a threatening military alliance. So it has to do with the possibility of Ukraine becoming a NATO member.” and therefore hosts missiles and troops from that alliance,” Gerald Toal, professor of International Relations at Virginia Tech University in the US, told BBC Mundo.
(See: Do you know what NATO is and what role does it play in the tension between Russia and Ukraine?)
2014, key year
Ukraine shares borders with both the European Union and Russia, but as a former Soviet republic it has deep social and cultural ties with Russia, and there is a large Russian-speaking population, explains the BBC.
In 2014, with Euromaidan, or the Revolution of Dignity, the citizens of Ukraine ousted the pro-Russian president Viktor Diodorovich and replaced him with a pre-European named Oleksandr Valentinovich.
This new mandate generated the Donbas Warin which the pro-independence forces of Donetsk and Lugansk, who had Russian support, clashed against the Ukrainian government.
The BBC explains that since 2014, the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, has been immersed in a harsh conflict that has already left more than 14,000 fatalities.
“The annexation of Crimea by Russia on March 18 of that year triggered a series of movements that have made this war in Ukraine an international conflict,” says the British chain.
Russia seized Crimea in 2014 arguing that it had a historic claim to the peninsula, says the BBC. Since then, the Russian country has been internationally sanctioned.
In 2021, the clashes between the Donbas groups and the Ukrainian government resurfaced in search of the state being run by a pro-Russian president.
Currently, the Putin government accumulates more than 120 thousand soldiers on the border with Ukraine.
(Also: Russia does not want a war: Vladimir Putin)
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