Tooba Sheikh
Part 1
“The cold war never really ended”, said Angela Merkel. Of course Ms. Merkel, we never believed otherwise, for existing superpowers have never let us think otherwise. And we don’t expect an
ending soon for these power drunk lords won’t stop craving for more as the first kisser craves for more and more then never gets satiated. “Russia was basically not satisfied”, she claimed further
without realizing that America is no exception. The recent Russo-Ukrainian conflict is the continuation of the past series. The past whose dark
shadow is lurking on our present today and blurring the vision for future. Russia has emerged as a
‘rejuvenated malign actor’ for United States of America who needs to be confronted firmly. It is the eastern bloc led by China and Russia, in recent years, which has become a challenging monster
for the liberal world order. The de-dollarization policy of Russia is yet another specter which frightens America. Putin’s support for the one-China principle and the denunciation of America’s
provocation in the strait of Taiwan and its attempt to create a unipolar world order are obviousthreats to American hegemony. In the quest for a unipolar world order, deliberate efforts have been
made to create circumstances that provoke Russia to aggression.Numerable factors act as causes for Russian aggression against Ukraine but most plausible are
following:
Ukraine-West love affair and NATO’s expansion:
Ukraine-West love affair began with Viktor Yushchenko being president of Ukraine, who in 2008 applied to join NATO. Moscow presented NATO with a list of security demands including banning
Ukraine and other former Soviet States from joining the organization. In response NATO secretary General said that Russia has ‘no right’ to interfere while European Union, United Kingdom and
United States have condemned Moscow for its aggressive posture, completely forgetting the ‘defensive’ posture of America in 1960s during missile crisis in Cuba when America chose ‘not to
interfere’ in Russo-Cuban defense agreement. Russia had no problem till NATO was limited to Western Europe. But as NATO with purposeful planning started including Eastern European
countries caused fury in Russia. Russia’s defensive stance is not unfounded because first anti Russia bloc is expanding and second NATO forces are deployed on Russian bordering countries
i.e. Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Russia took this as a threatening encroachment towardits borders which is categorically unacceptable for it.
Ukraine had always been a pawn of Russia. The governments in Ukraine always kept on Russian side. In 1990, with its declaration of Sovereignty, Ukraine pledged ‘not to acquire’ nuclear
weapons and in 1996 Ukraine returned all its nuclear warheads to Russia.
Ukraine was the biggesteconomic partner of Russia and had always pro-Russian policies till 2013. But things started
changing rapidly afterwards when Ukraine started breaking up with Russia and getting intimate with Europe. Russia wanted Ukraine to join Eurasian Economic Union which is a free trade agreement between post-Soviet states but Ukraine refused to do so and showed interests in joining ,European Union instead. It was upsetting for Russia to see Ukraine’s inclination towards West.
But the real problem started when Ukraine showed serious interests in becoming part of the NATO and the organization reciprocated warmly.In 2020 president Volodimyr Zelensky signed a deal in which foundation of relationship with NATO was laid out and in March 2021, Russia stationed its troops on Ukrainian borders. Moscow spelled out its demands list and handed over to United States in which it was demanded that NATO stop military activity in Eastern Europe and remove its forces from Baltic States.
It was also demanded that United States pull all the nuclear weapons from nations that once belonged to Warsaw Pact. But the ruthless truth is United States and its allies refused to meet any of these demands thus gave a way to Russia to initiate a war. The war could have been averted if America’s influence and provocation had been prevented. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has steadily crept eastwards. First unification pushed NATO to the former East Germany, then the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined NATO in 2004. Albania and Croatia joined in 2009. Montenegro and North Macedonia joined in 2017 and 2020 respectively. All of this contributed to bring about the present crisis. And it is America which bears the responsibility of NATO’s expansion eastward and pulled Ukraine toward Europe.
NATO’s intention to enlist Finland as the permanent member of alliance can prove to be another possibility of escalation of war for NATO needs Finland due to its geographical position bordering Baltic Sea and NATO’s probable necessity to reinforce Baltic States is another threat to Russia’s security interests. Separatists Regions in Ukraine: 30% population of Ukraine is Russian speaking and they associate themselves with Russia more than Ukraine. People in western and central Ukraine are more inclined toward Europe than those in eastern and southern Ukraine. Donbas is a region in eastern Ukraine encompassing Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic. The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 created an ethnic division in Donbas region where conflict started between Ukrainian government and Russian-backed separatists. President Viktor Yanukovych who got elected in the elections of 2010 in Ukraine was offered to sign a trade deal with European Union.
He was a pro-Russian president so suspended talks with European Union and instead supported Eurasian Economic Union to pursue closer ties with Russia. This step of president caused the civil unrest in Ukraine because majority of Ukrainians aspire to have close ties with West. Later the unrest turned into riots, then civil disobedience and then into a movement. This is how the Euromaidan crisis began in Europe in 2013, which was sponsored by USA and resulted in the change of regime, in 2014. It was that time when Russia attacked Crimea, annexed it, held referendum there and declared the Crimean Peninsula to be a part of the Russian Federation.
Ukraine called this a violation of international law but Russia justified it by calling it the principle of self-determination of Crimean people. There started a mini war between Russian speaking individuals and the government of Ukraine. The separatist armed groups in Donbas region were sponsored by Russia but Russia publicly denied the involvement. Political scientists do not classify these as interstate wars because regular Russian soldiers were not taking part in it. Ukraine had fear of losing Donbas region as it lost Crimea to Russia. This conflict led both countries to sign Minsk Agreement in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Minsk Agreement called for ceasefire in the Donbas region and for the holding of local elections that allows for autonomy and self-governance for the area.
But this agreement proved to be a toothless and impotent deal whose credibility is widely being questioned. The reason for the failure of Minsk Agreement may be found in Angela Merkel’s statement, “The 2014 Minsk Agreement was an attempt to give time to Ukraine. It also used this time to becomestronger as can be seen today”. This statement led to the conclusion that it was not aimed to resolve the conflict rather to prepare Ukraine for hostilities with Russia thus making war inevitable. Vladimir Putin has now confessed that it was a mistake on his part to sign Minsk Agreement, and the issue of the Donbas region should have been resolved through the use of force. According to Putin, Kyiv regime committed genocide in the separatist areas of Ukraine because it had never been supportive of granting autonomy to the Donbas region.
Thus the invasion on Ukraine is just a continuation of the previous form of the war which Putin claims was indispensable to liberate the Russian speaking minority from the stranglehold of brutal Kyiv regime. Denazification and Demilitarization of Ukraine: Putin’s address at the beginning of the conflict stated the purpose of the military operation in Ukraine was to strive for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. Kremlin believes that
Ukraine is run by Neo-Nazis despite the fact that president of Ukraine, Volodymir Zelensky has a Jewish bloodline and he lost his ancestral family members in the Holocaust and heads a westernbacked democratically elected government. Neo-Nazism is an ideology that traces back its roots into German Nazism. Some elements of this ideology are present in the today’s far-right nationalist groups of Ukraine which infiltrated Ukrainian government during Euromaidan movement of 2014. Azov is one of them. They began as a volunteer battalion back in 2014 when Russian backed separatists claimed Donbas as an independent territory.
\To fight back against these separatists Ukrainian state needed this volunteer battalion who were willing to defend Donbas. The Azov battalion helped Ukrainian forces to take back Mariupol and was formally integrated into National Guards of Ukraine and became Azov Regiment. Azov, the militia-cum-political movement was led by a radical white supremacist Andrii Biletskyi who was Member of Parliament from 2014 to 2019. His statement, “lead the whitefaces of the world in a final crusade against Semite-led Untermensch” shows that his party is harboring the same radical ambitions and anti-Semite sentiments that Nationalist Socialist Party of Germany once did. IN the conflict of 2014, the Azov battalion gained the reputation of brutality in Ukraine and UNHRC connected them with war crimes. Their Neo-Nazi ties always remain controversial as their slogan ‘Ukraine above all’ projects their views are quite similar to the Nazi belief of
superiority of German race.
Their military uniform features the badges that carry the Nazi symbols of ‘wolfsangel’ and ‘black sun’. Their videos show them greasing the bullets with lard to deter
Muslim Chechens fighting for Russia. The group was banned by USA after being declared as a terrorist organization. But later the ban was lifted in 2017. Putin’s claim that Volodymir Zelensky is a hostage to Neo-Nazism, came after the controversy surrounded Zelensky’s Instagram photo of a Ukrainian soldier wearing a patch with a notorious Nazi symbol in October 2019. Government of Ukraine is supporting them because they are fully aware of their incapacity to fight Russians. Russia has been succeeded so far by making its peoplebelieve that Russia is fighting the same enemy that it did during ‘The Great Patriotic War’. But this time there is a different variant of the same virus. A poll has found out that 76% Russians
believe that Ukrainian Nazi organizations pose threat for Russia and Russian citizens. Today Azov regiment rejects to be identified as Neo-Nazis and liked to be called as Ukrainian nationalists.
On November 4, 2022, United Nations General Assembly adopted a Russian draft resolution on combating glorification of Nazism. This resolution was supported by 105 countries and opposed
by 52, including the USA and allies, as its acceptance would require acknowledging the fact that Neo-Nazi elements exist in European nations as well.
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