Ukraine, what reaction from the UN ?
Maïdan in fire
Inhabitants : 44 Millions.
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) : 373.1 bn. $
National flag
Brief History :
Founding : Firstly, it is worth noticing the fact that Ukraine is a crucial territory in the European history : during the XVIIth century, between 1657 and 1686, the Russian empire waged war against Polish, Turkish and Cossak troops during the so-called « Ruin » war, ending by the division of the Ukrainian soil between Russia and Poland, in agreement with the «Eternal Peace» treaty along the Dniepr, a natural frontier ; on the easter bank, the Russian empire, and on the western one, successively Poland and the Austro-Hongarian empire ; later, the Russians will seize the entire territory.
In 1917, the Tsar Nicolas II is overthrown by the February revolution, and Ukraine briefly declares its independence.
In 1922, Ukraine is incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The forced collectivization and Stalinian violent repression led to a serious crisis, which confined to the great starvation of the 1930’s, resulting in the death of 6M people.
During World War II : on the 22 of June 1941, Hitler broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact ensuring the alliance between the Soviet Union and the IIIrd Reich by launching Operation Barbarossa : the Wehrmacht invaded Ukraine and began to slaughter both Slav and Jew population. Even if nazis troops were first welcomed as liberators, who would cast the Ukrainian population off the Soviet Union yoke (joug) ; by the end of 1941, the Einsatzgruppen had killed more than a million jews, during this episode, later called « the Holocaustby bullets ».
This traumatic periode led the historian Timothy Snyder to rename this area «Bloodlands», in his book : Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder (here is a detailed article of Neal Ascheron from The Guardian ).
Then, Ukraine passed under the control of the USSR, as a Socialist Republic.
Nikita Khrushchev became the leader of the USSR after the death of Stalin in 1953 ; he was born in Kalinovka in Ukraine. In 1954, he gave Crimea to the Ukrainan Republic, a very strategic area due to the acces to the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea it provides.
On 24 of August 1990, after the collapse of the USSR leading to the independence of all the Socialists Republics, Ukraine issued the Act of Independence, but still kept a pro-Russian government.
This document was found in 2014' Valdai club meeting' report (Valdai is a Russian organised international summit held every year, in Sotchi this year) ; you can download it here :
The Crisis in Ukraine: Root Causes and Scenarios for the Future, Valdai Discussion Club, 23/10/14.
Modern History ; landmark to crisis :
In 2004, the very pro-Russian politician Viktor Ianoukovitch is elected president, after suspected fraudulent elections, which led to the Orange revolution.
Orange Revolution : this so-called revolution was led by Viktor Ioutchenko and Ioulia Timochenko (who lost the elections against Ianoukovitch), much more encline to pro-European and generally speaking Western clout.
The East-West divide is clear : the Orange revolution is mainly the result of Western population, when the East massively voted for Ianoukovitch, a region where the Russian clout has not wained since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and which is largely Russian-speaking.
Following this episode, the Ukrainian government (Ioutchenko and Timochenko) has shown a tendancy to move closer to the European Union and its clout, breaking contacts with Russia.
In 2010, Viktor Ianoukovitch took office again, and implemented a more Russian-friendly policy. Meanwhile, the trade with the European Union represented 37,7 billion euros, whereas it was only 24,1 billion with Russia. Furthermore, 58% of the imported gas was Russian, which is why it was a crucial leverage during the election.
President Ianoukovitch refused an agreement with the European Union in the name of the Eastern Parternship (a program which aim is to gather the ex-Soviet Republics) in November 2013 : this decision sparked things off, and the first riots didn’t last to appear, enforced by the totalitarian drifts of the government in office. Ianoukovitch prefered to incorporate the Eurasian Economic Union promoted by Putin (against more attractiv gas price and a financial support).
Here is a more detailed map from Valdai Discussion Club Report ( you can spot the importance of Crimea, Lugansk and Donetsk in term of Russian influence ) :
Then, the Kiev inhabitants « seized Maïdan » : the riots became viral in Western Ukraine, and spread to more conservative and pro-Ianoukovitch Eastern regions (on the eastern bank of the Dniepr).
On the 20th of February, after an umpteenth political blockade, we were the witnesses of a renewal of tensions, causing 80 deaths and a hundred of wounded.
On the 21st, Ianoukovitch fled to Russia, and on the 22nd he was overthrown.
Then on the 18th of March, after a contorted and silent infiltration on Ukrainian soil by Russian soldiers who were not wearing any emblem, Crimea was reattached to Ukraine through a referendum (which is a dizzying breach to the Helsinki Final Act).
Then Russia sent troops and weapons into Eastern Ukraine, a region called Donbass. This Russian aspiration to take Ukraine fits into an ancient myth deeply-rooted in Russian culture, which Putin tries to revive, that has been designated by Zbigniew Brzeziński (ex-counsellor of Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981) in this sententious expression : « Without Ukraine, no Empire ».
Some crucial events are to be underlined : for instance, the separatist city of Luhansk was besieged by the Ukrainian military forces during all summer. Moreover, the Malaisian Airlines plane, a Boeing 777, was shot above the Donbass area on the 17th of July, causing 298 deaths.
On the 29th of August, Ukrainian government officially asked the European Union for help.
You can find here a video in French explaining the whole conflict in few words.
You can find here a video in French explaining the whole conflict in few words.
Here is an article from Mikhail Gorbachev in the Guardian : Mikhail Gorbachev warns of ‘new Cold War’ over Ukraine.
An other one published on the 3rd of March 2014, during the Maïdan'clashes, quiet interesting in order to learn more about the European will of a part of Ukraine, and the advantages of a partition of Crimea (who was not Russian yet) : Ukraine's Crisis of Legitimacy, in Foreign Affairs, by Keith Darden.
An other one published on the 3rd of March 2014, during the Maïdan'clashes, quiet interesting in order to learn more about the European will of a part of Ukraine, and the advantages of a partition of Crimea (who was not Russian yet) : Ukraine's Crisis of Legitimacy, in Foreign Affairs, by Keith Darden.
Finally, you will find here an article from the Washington Post ; Kissinger : Putin is not Stalin.
Here is a map from Gazprom, detailling further options for Russia to address the problem of gas sanctions on Russia.
Here is a map from Gazprom, detailling further options for Russia to address the problem of gas sanctions on Russia.
