Russia claimed to be invading Ukraine in the near future, some even say tomorrow, Wednesday (16/2).
Why is Russia so insistent on attacking Ukraine?
The conflict on the Ukrainian border has recently been heating up after Russia deployed hundreds of thousands of military personnel to the border region. Moscow attacked allegedly because Kiev was afraid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) until the country’s existence was threatened.
The United States accuses Russia of an invasion. However, Moscow denies this. As the escalation continues to increase, a number of countries hold negotiations but to no avail.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO expanded its influence into eastern Europe. The following is an explanation of the reasons Russia is said to be about to invade Ukraine.
They then succeeded in recruiting European countries that had been in communist circles. For example, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and then Poland and Romania.
This success made NATO more confident to continue to expand its movement toward Russia. It is known that this bloc was created to fight the Soviet Union.
Until 2008, they planned to recruit Ukraine, although some considered that a too far-fetched prospect.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called NATO’s expansion a threat. In addition, the prospect of Ukraine joining the bloc is also considered to threaten the country’s existence.
Putin continues to insist that Ukraine and Belarus are part of Russia, culturally and historically. He even wields great control over Belarus and continues to hold talks about reunification that have been going on for years.
However, the conflict with Ukraine erupted in early 2014 which caused East-West relations to deteriorate. At that time, mass protests broke out in Ukraine, and the president allied with Putin was removed.
Russia then quickly invaded and annexed Crimea, the border region of Ukraine. Moscow also supports the separatist groups in the Donbas.
In 2015, the two countries agreed to a ceasefire in the Donbas, Ukraine. However, both sides accused each other of violating the agreement and not fully implementing the agreement.
During his leadership of Russia, Putin is said to be very guarded and wants to pull Ukraine into Russian orbit.
However, there has been speculation of the extent to which Russia is prepared to do so despite the high costs, and find a lenient Ukraine still separate from Moscow.
Russia demanded that Ukraine not join NATO, asked the bloc to withdraw troops in Eastern European countries, and called for a 2015 ceasefire in Ukraine to be implemented.
The West could not fulfill the first demand, they offered other things and even threatened sanctions. Especially regarding sanctions, if Russia occupies Ukraine.
Observers in Russia also think that Moscow will not launch a war. They just want to punish Ukraine and demand that its wishes be fulfilled.
(isa/bac)
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