I don’t
really know much about the Ukraine-Russia war. Nevertheless, according to
this website http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67828
the President of Russia, Putin, had a speech that explains it. Here’s the
official transcript:
“So, I will start with the
fact that modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia or, to be more precise,
by Bolshevik, Communist Russia. This process started practically right after
the 1917 revolution, and Lenin and his associates did it in a way that was
extremely harsh on Russia – by separating, severing what is historically
Russian land. Nobody asked the millions of people living there what they
thought.
“And then, the September 1989
plenary session of the CPSU Central Committee approved a truly fatal document,
the so-called ethnic policy of the party in modern conditions, the CPSU platform.
It included the following provisions, I quote: “The republics of the USSR shall
possess all the rights appropriate to their status as sovereign socialist
states.”
The next point: “The supreme
representative bodies of power of the USSR republics can challenge and suspend
the operation of the USSR Government’s resolutions and directives in their
territory.”
And finally: “Each republic of
the USSR shall have citizenship of its own, which shall apply to all of its
residents.”
“Despite all these injustices,
lies and outright pillage of Russia, it was our people who accepted the new
geopolitical reality that took shape after the dissolution of the USSR, and recognized
the new independent states.”
From the above, I think Russia
is invading Ukraine because of the following:
vGeographic
This is a physical map of
Europe. Looks pretty scary and confusing? Well you only need to look at the
greener regions. They collectively form what’s called the Great European
Plain. This plain almost traces the shape of the European continent
itself. It’s shaped like a funnel.
So — Russia has always wanted
to narrow down this gap anyhow. Which is why Russia likes it better when it’s
fellow Eastern Europeans don’t engage with the west. But Ukraine wasn’t
acting according to the whims of Russia. So it had to be contained in order to
secure this border.
By containing Ukraine, Russia
will effectively push the borders back to Western Ukraine and Belarus, a region
where this plain is not so difficult to defend against an invading army.
vDemographics
Thus Russia being an oligarchy
and a democracy in disguise may not want Ukraine to side with the western camp
and NATO and as a result help in motivating the fellow Slavic people in Russia
against the ruling oligarchs.
Russia’s population has been
in decline for a very long time now. Its available manpower is only shrinking,
with no hopes of registering a population growth anytime soon.
vGreed For Gas
You might get shocked, but
Ukraine actually holds 39 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas
reserves, both in its EEZ in black sea, and it’s Eastern and Western halves. If
Ukraine could have harnessed the power of this gas, it could have in theory
replaced Russia as the Europe’s sole energy supplier, and hence snatched a
large part of Russia’s dollars in the process.
As a matter of fact, now I’m
convinced this was the actual reason behind Crimea’s invasion, this might also
be why there’s secessionist movements in Transnistria, Crimea, and Donbas
regions — because all three of these regions either lie above these gas
reserves or close to them.
vCrimea’s Woes
Russia has spent billions of
dollars so far in a couple of projects in Crimea, but the water supply could
never get back to normal. It’s citizens evidently aren’t very happy, and Russia
could lose the occupied territory along with its billions of dollars’ worth of
gas reserves if Crimea’s thirst isn’t quenched soon. This too could have been
one of the motivating factors for the invasion.
vA Valuable Port
When nature was blessing
Russia with an abundance of land and natural resources, it snatched one thing
from them — Warm water ports that stay functional all 12 months of the year.
The port of Sevastopol located
on the Crimean Peninsula is one of the few warm water ports available to
Russia. Through which it can deploy it’s naval and merchant ships alike all
year round. With Ukraine threatening to join NATO, it’s single biggest asset
could have come under serious threat, which is why it’s going with the invasion
route.
In
summary, Putin stated the dissolution of the USSR was wrong and the
country should be rebuilt by Russian arms. In case you’re wondering why NATO is
expanding right to the Russian border, that’s because those countries have a
choice of either NATO or becoming a Russian province, with the new Stalin as
their president.
