Crisis between Ukraine and Russia (Research Paper Sample)

Zacharoula Krasopoulou
October 10, 2014
Role: Communications Officer of Crime
Crimean Peninsula: Crisis between Ukraine and Russia
Introduction
Crimean Peninsula is the focal point of the crisis between Ukraine and Russia. The region is estranged from the rest of Ukraine in every way, geographically, politically and also historically. Also, Crimea belongs to the Pro-Russian part of the country. In 1921, when the Muslim Tatar population was the main population in the area, it became a part of the Soviet Union [1]. Joseph Stalin, the famous Soviet leader, had these Tatars deported at the end of World War II as he was confident that they had secret collaboration with the Nazi [2]. In 1954, Nikita Khrushchev, the Supreme of Russia gave Crimea to Ukraine [3]. After Soviet Union broke in 1991, Crimea ultimately became a part of independent Ukraine and still more than 60% of the total population continued to identify themselves as Russians [4]. It was the beginning of periodic political tussles concerning Crimea between Russia and Ukraine [5].
Our society is made up of both Pro and Anti-Russian ideas, but these Pro-Russian people are more in number. As per my idea, I belong to the first group, and I believe it is the only method to develop Crimea in a wholesome way. Therefore, with the aid of my government, I want to be a vigorous component of the attempts to make Crimea close to Russia, both socially and politically.
The Major Players in the Conflict:
Crimea has been a preferred tourist target for many Europeans, and many Russians have always favored it as their most desired tourist destination. Different thinkers do stress on different players in this crisis [6]. Whatever the parties may be, the first major player in the conflict will always be the common people of Crimea, who are parcel of this political juggernaut from the very beginning of the situation. Along with that, the Crimean Government and the legislative body of the Government will be furthered as the parties who are directly involved with the scenario[7].Sergei Aksyonov, who was appointed the prime minister of Crimea after heavily armed men captured government buildings. He heads a pro-Moscow party called Russian Unity in Crimea where the citizens are more than likely Russians. He publicly appealed to Vladimir Putin to protect the Crimean republic. A segment of modern day political scientists do believe that after the Orange Revolution (2004) the Russian Government has directly pressurized the Ukrainian Government so that they can associate itself with the West [8]. The Russian campaign in this regard, which was information based venture, was proficient and systematic in nature. It unrelentingly became more and more extreme during the period when Ukraine began their bid for NATO membership [9]. During the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010), Russian-Ukrainian democratic relationships declined gradually [10]. The Ukrainian attempts to be a part of European integration was tried to be stopped by Russia by their effectively led information campaign [11]. Russia opposed the idea of the integration of Crimea with Ukraine for two simple reasons. The reasons were that they were afraid that NATO and its associates will extend their grips by the sides of the Western borders of Russia. Secondly, Ukraine’s position in European union can hamper some of Russia’s financial interests in the international field of commerce [12].The Tatars, who are the marginal Muslims in Crimea. They were viciously thrown out of the peninsula at some stage in the reign of Stalin after the Second World War and were just permitted to come back in the 1980s.They are apprehensive of the Russians given the historical injustice they were subjected to. They thus want Crimea to linger under the Ukrainian management. Putin, the president of Russian and a constant problem to the west insisted that he moved to Ukraine for the purposes of protecting the interests of the Russians.
Euromaindan (at the end part of 2013) protests are paramount in this issue. As per the information supplied by Boris Nemtsov, a figure of 800000 people began to protest in Kiev and within numerous Ukrainian cities and in other international venues [13]. It began when Viktor Yanukovych, the president of Ukraine stopped the signing of Ukraine and EU Association agreement under severe pressure from Russia [14]. Instead of that he went to create a deal with Putin where he agreed that Russia will by US$15 billion Ukrainian bonds and will discount the gas prices to one-third[15]. A major part of the protesters had liberal pro-European values while some others like the nationalistic parties went on the support the idea of European integration [16].
On 30th November, the authorities violently dispersed the protesters and went on to adopt the Anti-Protest laws [17]. This period of the protests was when the protests took a turn to become directly anti-Government and anti-corruption in nature. The protests were the initiator of the violent upheavals in the area and during the period of 18th to 20th February 2014;103 people died, and more than 1000 people were injured severely [18]. The media in Ukraine reported that it was mostly a planned violence by the state aided law enforcement organization, and there were reports that snipers even killed dozens of protesters [19]. However, the official investigation reports have proved that the Pro-European opposition and a major part of Ukrainian and European media were sought by the Russian Secret Services and Yanukovych. There were allegations that the Russian Secret Services have also planned a large military operation in Ukraine to tame the protesters[20].
Effects of the crisis:
The Crimean crisis has its effects in different levels. For example, two of the leading indexes of Moscow Stock Exchange started a steady fall in trading. On March 3 that had equated to lose more than US$ 70 billion in the World market (a total calculated including the fall in both Moscow Exchange and MICEX). The fall was the lowest since September 2009[21]. The Central Bank of Russia, to contain the situation increased its interest rate to 7% from a 5.5% and it had also issued US$ 12 billion from the reserves to strengthen the Russian economy. The fall of the exchange rates had been a warning from the financial strategists, both in Russia and the World [22].The Crimean crisis also has a huge impact to international relations and implications apparently in the world order. In the last decade, US had considerably placed itself among the world’s superpowers, and it could take independent action based on their diagnosis and their interest evaluation. With the latest Crimea crisis, it showed that the world has got back on track once again.
The Austrians a due to their strategic position were a big bet to become leading lenders to Eastern Europe and specifically Russia due to their geographical position and rich history between them. As the Crimean crisis rose the European banks would be at a jeopardy of trailing their subsidiaries. Since then imposition of sanctions has been urged to be on careful platforms. It is becoming impossible to do business there. For Austria, the effects are large as their two largest banks-Raiffeisen Bank International and Bank Austria have multiple operations in Russia and Ukraine.
Internationally, different countries were worried that gas exports to both Russia and Ukraine could be disrupted by the aftermath of the crisis itself. It was because more than 15% of the total gas of Europe is supplied through the pipelines of Ukraine. Therefore, any disruption in the issue could disrupt European as well as international economic structures [23]. The disruption could also affect the grain supplies throughout the World. The disruption is because Ukraine has always been one of the leading exporters of corn in the World [24]. Apart from these cases, some of the important multinational companies operating from Crimea had also exited because of the instability of financial and banking services in the region [25]. Finally, the European Union had banned any importations from Crimea in the EU member states [26]. The Globalized economy is suffering from the crisis. The prices of crude oil and natural gas might rise due to the problem, and there are chances that the stock trading in Russia might again suffer a dip in price [27]. The globalized economy will inevitably affect the immediate financial situation in Russia and can also continue to effect the World’ economy at any time.           
There have been certain myths that have been circulating in the media about the Crimea-Russia conflict. There is no real significance of these myths in the perspective of the problem. International media have reported the presence of Russian soldiers (apart from they are wearing no insignia) in all the important places of Crimea [28]. Putin has said that the journalists have misjudged the difference between the army uniforms of Crimea and Russia, even though there are pictures of armed carriers with Russian number plate [29]. Russia has always promoted information that Russians are not at all safe in Crimea. Also, Moscow’s claim of the "Ukrainian fascists" attacks over the Russians in Crimea has not been proved yet [30]. In Eastern regions, there have been a number of violent clashes between the Russians and the Ukrainians after the Russian troops were sent to different parts of Crimea [31]. The question remains if this inter-ethnic conflict will ultimately escalate into a civil war, because, in Crimea a hefty proportion of the residents are directly opposing annexation [32]. Russia has claimed that different Ukrainian revolutionary armed groups have invaded Crimea. Even Putin has tried to label the revolution in Kiev as "unconstitutional"...