Why Russia needs Crimea
- Crimea voted for separation from Ukraine and return to Russian fold. Crimea was gifted to Ukraine in 1954 during the 300th anniversary celebrations of Ukrine & Russia.
- The NATO membership is what the new leaders of Ukraine (strategic catastrophe for Russia) want. These were the same people who staged the orange revolution in 2004 with support from the West.
- NATO comes within 425 km of Moscow & can cut Russia from the Black Sea & Mediterranean and squeeze it out of Caucasus. Ukraine will become the battlefield of unipolar U.S. hegemony against Russia.
- Putin stated that Crimea has the right to make its own free choice & self-determination.
- Putin considers Ukraine, which is a former Soviet state where the Russian nation was born in middle ages “Kievan Rus” and should remain part of the “Russian world.”
- Putin plans to build the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) including Ukraine (Second powerful economy). This was denounced by the U.S.
- Mr. Yanukovych signed a pact in favour of Russian aid package, which was disheartening for Ukrainians who nurtured alliance with EU.
- Moscow’s support for Crimea’s split solves Russia’s problem of the Black Sea Fleet.
- Crimea joining Russia, retains strategic hold and capability to plan its naval power in Mediterranean.
- Russia argued that Kosovo’s self-determination from Serbia was a genuine precedent.
- Crimea’s split has motivated other Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine to demand greater abilities from the center to get the right to block any sharp swing of the country towards the West.
- U.S.-Russia geopolitical rivalry will intensify and affect their collaboration on Syria, Iran and Afghanistan.
- Financial sanctions on Russia will move it further to China.
- Russia’s pivot to the East can benefit India by Russian energy resources and talks on trade agreement.
- A new game of East-West conflict centered on Crimea, home to the 1945 Yalta Conference, where the Soviet Union created its World War II ally, its safety interests above its borders.
Exams Perspective:
- Crimean Referendum
- Ukraine crisis