Russian troops and armored vehicles are drawing ever closer to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital. This Friday, Russian forces approached one of the most important cities in Eastern Europe, raising fears that the capital will fall to Moscow on the second day of a military invasion, an option that seems to be a matter of hours.
(Read here: Russian soldiers are already in Kiev; EU would freeze Putin’s assets)
(Due to the public interest that the events between Russia and Ukraine arouse, all our coverage of that invasion and related actions will have free access for all readers of EL TIEMPO)
Moscow’s objective of taking over the main Ukrainian city is not only a political issue, due to the fact that the governmental heart of the country is located there. Kiev holds a key historical and cultural significance.
“In Soviet times it was the most important city after Moscow and today St. Petersburg. (Kiev) was the third political center of the socialist union,” Mauricio Jaramillo, professor of international relations at the Universidad del Rosario, explained to this newspaper.
In Soviet times it was the most important city after Moscow and today Saint Petersburg. (Kiev) was the third political center of the socialist union
In addition, “many consider that Kiev is the cradle of the Orthodox Slavic nation, as it was one of the most important centers of power throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, where all the Slavic power was accumulated and later extended to Russia. ”, added the academic.
Popularly, there are also other names used to refer to Ukraine. Before it was declared a republic, it was known as “Little Russia.” “There were two little Russias, which were Belarus and Ukraine,” explained Jaramillo, who assured that “Russia has always had the dream of recovering Minsk and Kiev, two territories considered to be part of the Slavic world.
(Read here: Ukraine reports increased radiation in Chernobyl after arrival of Russians)
common roots
The Russian and Ukrainian peoples are linked by a millennium of history, with roots stretching back to Kievan Rus’ – a medieval Slavic state with Kiev as its capital, occupying parts of present-day Ukraine and Russia – and stretching back to the Soviet Union. , passing through the Russian Tsarist Empire.
After the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, Ukraine became a Soviet republic, but after its independence in 1991, tensions with Russia increased, culminating in a pro-Western revolution in 2014.
That same year, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula (south) and has since supported separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, a conflict that has claimed more than 14,000 lives.
This year, Russia concentrated tens of thousands of soldiers on the borders with Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 recognized the independence of the self-styled breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and ordered the deployment of troops in those areas.
(In other news: Russian offensive approaches Kiev and leaves a bloodbath in its wake)
Most Ukrainians speak Ukrainian and Russian, although a “Ukrainization” policy currently requires that the media publish in Ukrainian and that the Russian language and literature be removed from school curricula.
For Kiev, it is about reversing the forced “Russification” of Ukraine during the Soviet era.
The independence
Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has been divided between the West and Russia, which in recent years has repeatedly voiced opposition to the former Soviet republic’s move closer to the European Union.
On December 1, 1991, a country still integrated into the Soviet Union (which was dissolved on December 25, 1991), Ukraine votes in a referendum in favor of independence, immediately recognized by Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
On December 8, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus sign an agreement establishing a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
However, for the next five years, Ukraine tried to free itself from the political tutelage of its great neighbor, which began three centuries ago.
Ukraine has not fully engaged with the CIS, which is perceived as a structure dominated by Russia, which is trying to add the former Soviet republics.
On December 5, 1994, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the United States and the United Kingdom sign the Budapest Memorandum on security guarantees.
The signatories undertook to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and borders in return for abandoning the atomic weapons it had inherited from the Soviet Union.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With AFP
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