Russia approves treaty on Crimea
- Russian Parliament approved a treaty of making Crimea part of Russia.
- Ukraine declared Crimea (re-joined Russia) as ‘occupied territory’ & came out with a flurry of measures like :
- threatened to go nuclear
- will continue fighting for the liberation of Crimea from the occupants
- a visa regime for Russia (which would potentially affect Ukrainians earning their living in Russia who send home $4 to $5 billion every year)
- acquiring nuclear weapons to stop Russia’s “invasion”.
- puling out of Commonwealth of Independent States, an amorphous association of former Soviet states
- protect Ukraine against “expansionist” Russia
- restore Ukraine’s nuclear status which it handed over to Russia after the breakup of USSR in exchange for international guarantees of its security and territorial integrity in 1994
- relocating 25,000 soldiers and their families to Ukrainian mainland
- joining NATO
- requesting for expelling Russia from United Nations.
- Few Ukrainian servicemen in Crimea are willing to join the Russian armed forces under a decree signed by Putin.
- Russia has imposed retaliatory sanctions through entry bans on 9 U.S. lawmakers.
- Obama’s new sanctions added 20 names to earlier list of 11 penalized Russian officials along with a bank.
Exams Perspective:
- Ukraine crisis & aftermath
- Sanctions by USA & EU
- NATO