No country in the world wants they would have to face war ever. In fact, Russia the one who is attacking at this time knows very well that country puts itself at very big risk by getting into a war Even though it has superpowers. So, what was the compulsion of Russia that it had to attack Ukraine?
You may have heard that Russia had put some conditions and if the conditions would have been accepted then they were assured that they would not do war. If you see these conditions carefully then it is demanding conditions from NATO and USA and not from Ukraine. Then, what was the reason that Ukraine is being attacked?
In this article, we get to know about various reasons for the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Russia-Ukraine in Past
There was a time when Ukraine was part of Russia at that time, it was not Russia it was USSR. In 1991, the division of the USSR took place and when the division happened many small countries emerged Ukraine was one of them. The separation of Ukraine was very painful for Russia Even though it got separated but it operated according to Russia. Putin has always been saying that Russia and Ukraine are not separate, they share the same history and culture. Putin had also written a note in 2021 where he wrote about the relationship between Russia and Ukraine. The relationship between Russia and Ukraine was like that Ukraine gave all its bombs in 1996 to Russia under NPT. If Ukraine had those bombs today, then the whole scenario would have been entirely different.
Out of the Ukrainian total population, approx 30% of people are Russian. They speak Russian and support Russia. Eastern Ukraine is that part where the Pro- Russian population is more, and it is the part that is joined with the Russian border. If we go from eastern Ukraine to western Ukraine, then the Pro- Russian population starts decreasing and at the western Ukraine side, the native population has the majority. Before 2014, the relations between Russia and Ukraine were quite good, they were good because the government in Ukraine was the puppet of Russia and it ran according to Russia, all the policies were according to Russia.
Relation between Russia-Ukraine after 2014
After 2014 Russia was not able to run Ukraine according to them. Ukraine came under the influence of the US and Europe. There are two groups in Ukraine, the first group speaks Russian, and they support the pro-Russian government, and the second group is native Ukrainian they are biased towards the European government.
From 2010 to 2014, the president of Ukraine was Mr. Viktor Yanukovych. It is said that he is pro-Russian. He was invited to a meeting of the European Union where he was offered a European free trade agreement which he denied. For this, protests took place in Ukraine against him these protests started in November 2013 and lasted till February 2014. The protests were of this level that President Viktor had to flee for his life After that, he took asylum in Russia. After this incident, the coming presidents understood that if we listen to Russia then it would be difficult for us to stay in power.
Now Ukraine has two options here, the first was to stay in the shadow of Russia as it is now and the second was to incline itself with the European countries. The political parties of Ukraine understood well what the majority of the country wants. After 2014, gradually they started tilting more towards the European countries. Russia was able to understand this properly and it didn’t like this thing at all. Russia is a very big supplier of natural gas in Europe 30% of natural gas is provided by Russia to the whole of Europe. When natural gas is supplied it is done through pipelines. The countries through which it goes have to pay the rent. The important routes of these pipelines also pass-through Ukraine. Until 2013, Ukraine operated according to Russia. After that, Ukraine started to demand 33 billion dollars per year.
Ukraine was one of the biggest economic partners of Russia till 2014. But after 2014, the situation changed suddenly. Russia wanted Ukraine to join the Eurasian Economic Union. It is a free trade agreement, but Ukraine denied it too. Russia was overshadowed by Ukraine joining European countries. But the real problem started when Ukraine showed serious interest in becoming a NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) member. NATO was established when the second world war happened in 1949. Many countries signed a treaty and, in the treaty, it was given that when one country is attacked then the attack will be considered on all the countries who are members of NATO, and all the countries collectively will attack them. The country which becomes a member of NATO does combine military deals, missiles are planted there, Security is maintained there.
Basically, the US and European countries had established it to counter USSR. So that USSR would not capture small countries. When NATO was started there were only 11 countries but now it has 30 members.
Until NATO was increasing its members in west Europe, Russia was silent till then. But Russia was started getting troubled because the US under a strategy is making Eastern European countries the members of NATO. Russia understood that due to this anti-nation countries group is getting bigger and the second thing the US military and missiles are reaching Russian borders Estonia, Latvia, Poland, are the countries near the border.
If Ukraine becomes a member, then if the US would want it can launch an attack against Russia easily.
Russia Major Concern
It is one of the biggest factors in geopolitics if there will be any war between USA and Russia. By the time Russia will send one missile to the USA, The USA will have sent 10 missiles. Even if he has a supersonic missile, then also Russia will remain at the disadvantage. Let’s assume that Russia signs a treaty with Mexico, Cuba & Canada and went near the US border and starts building military bases then the US will never tolerate it. The same thing has been said by Russia, that why are you making our friendly countries against us? Why are you deploying military and missiles on our borders on the pretext of NATO? What purpose are you fulfilling by supplying weapons to Ukraine?
The USA has deployed a lot of nuclear missiles in Europe, and everyone knows they are for countering Russia. Now Russia cannot afford Ukraine to become a member of NATO at any cost. Ukraine wants to become a member of NATO so that it can be secure. And what could be better for NATO countries, because if Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, then 2295.04 km Ukraine-Russia border will be exposed. NATO forces will come and sit on the border of Russia.
Case of Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk
Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk were part of Ukraine there was more Russian population here And Russia started the separatist movement here. Russia changed the uniform of its army and got him included in those separatist groups and separated Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Then got a referendum done, got voting done there was a Majority Pro- Russian, So the verdict was in the favour of Russia.
The same thing was also going on in Luhansk and Donetsk, the Separatist Movement was already going on in Luhansk and Donetsk, and both these regions were already operated according to Russia because pro-Russians were more here. But now when Russia had to attack Ukraine from all sides, so both the regions were declared independent a day before. And got their army entered and said they are peacekeeping forces.
Demands of Russia
In the current situation, Russia was explaining this thing to the US and NATO in every way that we are not coming near you then why are you deploying forces near us. On 14th January, the foreign minister of Russia said, ‘Russia will not indefinitely wait for this thing’.
Russia made some demands and said that if the demands are fulfilled then they would not attack. If you see those demands carefully then you will understand that Ukraine was just the pawn. The real reason for the war was the US and Russia. The first demand was that the military activities are done by NATO in eastern Europe should be stopped and NATO forces should be removed from Poland and the Baltic nations. The second demand was to give in writing that Ukraine will never become a member of NATO. The third demand is that whatever nuclear missiles of the US are in Europe should be disarmed.
If you see these demands carefully Nothing is being asked from Ukraine. All the things are asked from NATO and US.