The History between Ukraine and Russia that connects them and divides them simultaneously
- taliaguillet
- Mar 11, 2022
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 15, 2022
“Russians and Ukrainians are one people, a single whole.” This statement was declared by Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia. The two countries share a long heritage that dates back to when Kyiv, the current capital of Ukraine, was the center of the first Slavic state, Kyivan Rus. It was considered to be the birthplace of Ukraine and Russia.
Ukraine has fought hard to become a sovereign nation. In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was part of the Russian Empire. The collapse of the empire in 1917 caused by the Russian revolution led to a civil war and the Ukrainian War of Independence from 1917 to 1921. It was then taken over by the Soviet Union. After centuries of being under the control of multiple European powers, Ukraine became an independent nation in 1991 following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
However, it was difficult to unite the country after many years of being separated into an eastern Ukraine that was under Russian rule and a western Ukraine that was under the control of European powers such as Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The people in the East tend to be more Russian-speaking, Orthodox and are more likely to support Russian-leaning leaders whereas people in the west tend to be more Ukrainian-speaking, Catholic and support more Western-leaning politicians. With the tension between the East and the West, it was hard to transition to democracy and capitalism.
While the USSR collapsed, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was expanding to the East. A few years later, Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia were the only post-Soviet countries that separated Russia from NATO. In 1994, Ukraine became a NATO partner which helped it come closer to reaching its goal of becoming a member.
To fully understand the origins of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, we must understand the history behind Crimea.
The relationship between Ukraine and Russia is a long and tumultuous one, it can be said that the current Russo-Ukraine conflict began as a direct result of the 1954 transfer of Crimea.
In 1954, now thought to be motivated as a symbolic gesture marking the 300th anniversary of the 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union issued a decree that transferred the Crimean Oblast from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian SSR.
The constitutionality of this transfer has been debated; according to the 1936 Soviet constitution’s Article 18, "the territory of a Union Republic may not be altered without its consent," and the transfer occurred during a session of the Presidium of the Supreme Council on 19 February 1954, when only 13 of 27 members were present. However, the proceedings of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium meeting imply that the Russian SFSR and the Ukrainian SSR had given their consent via their republic parliaments since the decision was adopted unanimously.
Known as, “the largest ever pro-European rally in history,” the Euromaidan protests began in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, on the night of 21 November 2013, after the pro-Russia Yanukovych government suspended preparations for signing the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement.
Despite heavy police presence, violence, chilly winter temperatures and snow, the protests continued with rising passion and strength. Increasing violence from the government in the early morning of November 30th caused the protests to reach their peak of 400,000–800,000 protesters from 1st - 8th December, from 50,000 to 200,000 during organized rallies
Violent riots also occurred during this period, stretching into 19th-25th January, in response to the escalating police brutality and government repression. During this time, according to journalist Lecia Bushak writing in the 18 February 2014 issue of Newsweek magazine, the focus of the movement shifted from anger fuelled response to the EU deal falling out to ousting Yanukovych and his corrupt government, establishing Ukraine as an entity separate from its intricate relationship with Russia and standing up for free speech.
On 23rd January, many Western Ukrainian Oblast Governor buildings and regional councils were occupied in a revolt by activists. In the Russian speaking cities of Zaporizhzhya, Sumy, and Dnipropetrovsk, there was a protest to take over local government buildings, which was met with large resistance from police and government supporters.
In February 2014, the president’s party lost its majority in parliament, due to large amounts of members fleeing or defecting, allowing the opposition to seize control of the voting majority and pass a series of laws that removed police from Kyiv, cancelled anti-protest operations, restored the 2004 constitution, freed political detainees, and removed President Yanukovych from office. They also assigned early elections to find a replacement for president, after reaching an agreement with then-president Yanukovych that formed an interim unity government.
The ousted Yanukovych fled to Kharkiv ahead of an impeachment vote. On the same day, the parliament declared that Yanukovych was relieved of duty in a 328-to-0 vote, a vote which the man himself refused to recognise, on the grounds that it was forced or coerced.
After fleeing Ukraine, a now essentially exiled Yanukovych asked Russia for assistance in reclaiming his position. On March 1st, 2014, considering the overthrow of Yanukovych to be an illegal coup and not recognizing the interim government, the Federation Council of the Russian Federation unanimously adopted a resolution to petition Russian President Vladimir Putin to use military force in Ukraine.
From the late night of the 22nd to the early morning of the 23rd of February, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Security service chiefs met to discuss the extrication of Yanukovych, with Putin remarking "we must start working on returning Crimea to Russia". After the start of the Russian military operation the "Returning of Crimea,” on 27th February, unmarked Russian soldiers took control of strategic positions and infrastructure within the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, such as the Supreme Council of Crimea, just a few days before the resolution was adopted.
This led to the instalment of the pro-Russian Sergey Aksyonov government in Crimea, which conducted an internationally condemned local Referendum. The Referendum was boycotted by many religious and political groups, and considered by the Venice Commission to be illegal under both Ukrainian and Crimean Constitutions, as well as under international standards and norms. This was primarily because negotiations with Ukraine had not occurred, and because a Referendum is generally understood to be a vote on whether a country can internally self-determinate, not on which country lays claim to it.
Nevertheless, despite regional and international pushback, on March 18th 2014, Russian formally integrated Crimea into two Russian federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. In order to consolidate their claim, they also increased military presence and leveraged their nuclear power
We should also consider the Minsk agreement (2014-2015) when looking back at the history between these two nations.
Ukraine and the Russia-backed separatists agreed on a 12-point ceasefire deal in September 2014. It included clauses along the lines of humanitarian aid, withdrawal of weapons, etc. The agreement was quickly violated by both sides soon after its establishment.
The Minsk Peace accords, although viewed favourably by Ukraine, is not recognised by Russia as the government doesn't believe they are involved and therefore the terms shouldn't apply to them.
Today, the Minsk agreements are brought back into light as the French President, Emmanuel Macron suggests the idea that these agreements may be a way for Ukraine and Russia to discuss and maybe, find some peace.
2013: Ukraine was planning on signing an association agreement with the European Union. This was refused by Ukraine’s pro-Russian government who instead chose to strengthen ties with Russia by accepting financial assistance. As a consequence, there was a pro-Western revolution against President Viktor Yanukovych. He was overthrown and the interim government that was put in place signed a trade agreement with the EU which was seen as another step towards Ukraine’s membership in the EU.
April 2014: Russia decided to invade and annex the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, were taken control over by Russian-backed separatists. The conflict happened in the eastern Ukrainian region known as Donbas, there were approximately 13,000 deaths and 2 million displaced individuals.
November 2021: Putin began moving Russian troops and military equipment to the border of Ukraine but denied any plans to invade. He calls the expansion of NATO menacing and believes that the prospect of Ukraine joining is a threat to Russia, especially since he insists that Ukraine belongs to Russia due to its cultural and historical ties. Furthermore, he demanded NATO to stop expanding and move its military borders back to where they were in 1997, further away from Russian borders. Western leaders rejected his demands. Rather, they put forces on standby and reinforced their military presence in Eastern Europe.
21st February 2022: Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border into Russian-backed separatist regions (the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic) with the reason being peacekeeping.
24th February 2022: Putin launched a full-scale invasion in Ukraine and called it a “special military operation”. In response to this declaration of war, NATO’s response has been activated for the first time in history, countries around the world have been imposing harsh economic sanctions and have sent military aid to support Ukraine. Moreover, Neighboring nations have opened their borders as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians attempt to flee.
Russian forces keep pushing deeper but Ukraine is fighting back. A message to Ukraine from the international community: Keep fighting, we stand with you.
Sources:
Comments