- Information
- AI Chat
Russian invasion of ukraine report
Global politics
Melbourne High School
Recommended for you
Related Studylists
Politics 3/4Preview text
Causes of conflict Historical ties/Russia vs the West Ukraine and Russia have a long history, Ukraine was part of the Soviet block and cut ties in 1991 and became a democracy when the Soviet Union collapsed. In three decades since independence Ukraine has been caught between the EU and Russia, and has become more aligned with the EU and NATO (became a NATO partner in 1994). In 2008 Ukraine began the process of a NATO membership action plan, which was shelved in 2010 after a Russian backed president. In 2013 Ukraine was to sign an association agreement with the EU but when it came to signing Ukraine’s pro-russian government refused and strengthened ties with Russia. According to Putin "Ukraine never had a tradition of genuine statehood."
Can’t let democracy flourish next-door Some suggest that it is not the threat of NATO but rather the threat of democracy that provoked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “In a very clear pattern, Moscow’s complaints about the alliance spike after democratic breakthroughs.” (Robert Person, Journal of Democracy). The 2004 Orange Revolution which prevented the Russian backed candidate from stealing the presidency undermined Putin's plan “ to establish a privileged and exclusive sphere of influence across the territory that once comprised the Soviet Union.”(Robert Person). Again in 2014 hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the Euromaidan protest and in Feb 2014 100 protestors were killed, this lead to on feb 22 Yanukovych being voted out and fleeing the country annexed Crimea in march 2014 after it began to lose political control, and Russian-backed separatists declared the Donbass independant - more than 14,000 have died in Donbass between 2014-21. Despite the annexation democracy has continued to flourish in Ukraine, electing Zelensky in 2019. Russia then on 24th of February 2022 launched a full scale invasion, a military attack on Ukrainian democracy.
Responses to conflict by global actors NATO “NATO condemns in the strongest possible terms Russia's brutal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine - which is an independent, peaceful and democratic country, and a close NATO partner. NATO and Allies continue to provide Ukraine with unprecedented levels of support, helping to uphold its fundamental right to self-defence.” Nato currently has 40,000 troops which can be mobilised at short notice. There is a proposal to have 300,000 troops ready for action within 30 days. Nato also wants member countries to update their military equipment, to stockpile more ammunition, and to spend a minimum of 2% of their GDP on defence. Through NATO, Allies have already pledged EUR 500 million to meet Ukraine’s critical needs, including fuel, demining equipment and medical supplies. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg did announce that all member countries have agreed to allow
Ukraine to join the alliance once conflict ends, when it is safer to do so. Whilst many NATO countries have applied sanctions on Russia, quite a number are reluctant to limit imports of Russian oil and gas, including Germany and Italy. Additionally “NATO’s decision to promise membership to Ukraine — but only once the war is over — has perversely increased Russia’s incentive to continue fighting” (Inside Story). USA Since the war began, the Biden administration and the U. Congress has given more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, including financial, humanitarian and military support, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. $46 billion of that has been towards military assistance which includes training, weapons and intelligence. The US has agreed to provide Ukraine with various defence capabilities, including battle tanks, anti-aircraft air missiles, coastal defence ships and advanced surveillance and radar systems. In July 2023 they also controversially agreed to supply Ukraine with cluster bombs, which are banned in many countries due to their danger to civilians. The US has also applied many sanctions to Russia including the banning of all Russian oil and gas imports. Some argue that the USA’s failure to send Ukraine sophistic weapons prior to the 2022 invasion let Russia think there would not be serious consequences to invasion. UN On March 2, 2022 as part of an emergency special session, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that "the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders." The measure was supported by 141 UN members with 35 abstentions, and 5 delegations including Russia and Syria voting against. The UN has also facilitated two rescue operations by the Red Cross after meeting with Putin and Zelensky separately in April, 2022. The humanitarian efforts of the UN systems are focused “providing warm shelters for displaced people, delivering aid to newly accessible areas, facilitating mine clearance, and providing humanitarian and psychological assistance to all those in need.”(UN News). Whilst the UN has certainly had a positive impact with its use of soft power, its inability to prevent Russia exposes “the limited leverage the U. has over the world’s most powerful countries.” (the conversation). This can be seen through Russia’s vetoing of a security council resolution to deplore Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and call for it to withdraw its military forces on February 25th, 2022. Russia vetoed another security council resolution again on September 30th 2022 which had labelled Russia’s invasion a “threat to international security and peace”.
UK
The UK has committed almost 400 million pounds to Ukraine, including 220 million pounds of humanitarian aid. In 2022, the UK trained 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in basic infantry skills and has committed to training up to 20,000 more in 2023. The country has also applied a variety of sanctions on Russia, including a ban on the import of Russian gas.
Ukraine’s survival would not have been possible without this aid and the backing of western nations.
War as an instrument of state policy - security, territorial, achieving national interests Russia is seeking to further its territorial claims and defend its interests through an invasion of Ukraine, it wants to keep Ukraine in its sphere of political influence as “the primary threat to Putin and his autocratic regime is democracy.” (Robert Persons). Prosecution of war crimes in International Law On 17 March 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin, and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova. This is in relation to the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia, where many have been adopted by Russian families. However Russia is no longer a signatory to the Rome Statute, withdrawing in 2016 claiming it undermined the state’s court systems. Ukraine is not a signatory either, but has granted the ICC jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed on its territory. Whilst the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, had made a ruling that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility” for the child abductions, because Russia does not recognise the court of extradite citizens it is highly unlikely either the president or commissioner for child's rights will be surrendered for arrest any time soon. It does however send a signal to high ranking Russian military personnel that they may be vulnerable to prosecution in the future.
Bibliography Administrator (2023). Russia’s war with the future • Jon Richardson. [online] Inside Story.
Available at: insidestory.org/russias-war-against-the-future/ [Accessed 22 Aug.
2023].
Cengel, K. (2022). The 20th-Century History Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. [online]
Smithsonian Magazine. Available at:
smithsonianmag/history/the-20th-century-history-behind-russias-invasion-o
f-ukraine-180979672/ [Accessed 22 Aug. 2023].
Person, R. and McFaul, M. (2022). What Putin Fears Most. [online] Journal of Democracy.
Available at: journalofdemocracy/articles/what-putin-fears-most/ [Accessed
21 Aug. 2023].
Reuters (2022). Extracts from Putin’s speech on Ukraine. Reuters. [online] 21 Feb. Available
at: reuters/world/europe/extracts-putins-speech-ukraine-2022-02-21/
[Accessed 21 Aug. 2023].
World101 from the Council on Foreign Relations. (2023). NATO: The World’s Largest
Alliance. [online] Available at:
world101.cfr/understanding-international-system/conflict/nato-worlds-largest-allia
nce [Accessed 21 Aug. 2023].
Ellyatt, H. (2023). How — and when — Ukraine’s war with Russia could end. [online]
CNBC. Available at:
cnbc/2023/08/07/when-and-how-will-ukraines-war-with-russia-end.html
[Accessed 23 Aug. 2023].
Varenikova , M. and Santora, M. (2022). Why does Ukraine fight? So it can exist, Zelensky
says. (Published 2022). The New York Times. [online] 28 Jul. Available at:
nytimes/2022/07/28/world/europe/ukraine-zelensky-speech.html [Accessed
23 Aug. 2023].
Administrator (2023a). Russia’s war against Ukraine: an eighteen-month stocktake • Mark
Edele. [online] Inside Story. Available at:
insidestory.org/russias-war-against-ukraine-an-eighteen-month-stocktake/
[Accessed 23 Aug. 2023].
Russian invasion of ukraine report
Subject: Global politics
