Russia's Attack on Ukraine
Why did President Putin choose to do this?
Many countries have strongly opposed Russia's actions
Managing Editor Seo Yun-chan
danseo123@naver.com
In February, 2022, Russia started a war against Ukraine. This was headline news, globally, and everyone thought that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, had made the wrong decision. So, just why did Russia plan a strike against Ukraine?
From the end of WWII through to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Ukraine was controlled by Moscow. As such, Ukrainian territory was considered as Soviet territory, especially since many ethnic Russian people live in the Eastern parts of Ukraine. However, after the Soviet Union collapsed, Ukraine re-established its full independence from Russia in the 1990s. Both countries claimed the Crimean Peninsula as their own territory, and eventually it was recognized as Ukraine's land, although the Russians were able to station their soldiers and military camps in the Crimea.
However, as time went by, the Russians started to denote Ukraine as a region, not as a country. Russians usually put a 'b' in front of a country, but for Ukraine they put a 'ha' in front, signifying that they were just a region of Russia, not an independent country. Also, in 1994, the Ukrainian government officially gave up control of its atomic weapons, opting for security guarantees from the US, UK and Russia. Even though Russia had to recognize Ukraine's territorial borders, it also meant that Ukraine lost a very strong deterrent against Russian aggression.
What the Ukrainians kept looking forward to was this: they wanted to join NATO. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This organization was established to guarantee the security of Western Europe, but it expanded to include Eastern European countries when the USSR collapsed. Ukraine has, in recent years, been very eager to enter this organization. However, Russia highly opposed Ukraine's membership of NATO, warning the Ukrainian government not to sign any membership agreements.
Since 2014, Ukraine and Russia have engaged in conflict in the East of Ukraine. However, in February President Putin of Russia finally engaged in a full-scale war against Ukraine. Other countries have opposed Putin's invasion, but have not directly involved themselves militarily in the hope of preventing any escalation and stopping a potential World War III. America, as well as other countries, have banned the import of oil from Russia, and drastically reduced natural gas imports, as well as introduced numerous sanctions. Russia is the second biggest exporter in natural gas, and much of Europe depends on Russian gas, so this was a huge decision. Most western-based companies have ceased trading in Russia, and FIFA has blocked Russia from entering this year's World Cup in Qatar. Even though tremendous political and governmental pressure has been put on President Putin, he has not chosen to stop his attack against Ukraine, and the conflict is still ongoing.