The Russification

Russia and Ukraine are at war. Indeed complex crisis with answers hidden in history. There was a time when Kiev was more powerful than Moscow? There was also a time when Ukraine and America were adversaries. In this blog post I will walk with you to find out an answer, why Russian President Vladimir Putin is obsessed with Ukraine.

Let’s go back to the 9th century where there was a state called Kievan Rus. Located between modern day Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. The Slavic people lived here. The city of Kiev was their capital between the year 980 and 1015. The Keivan Rus was ruled by Grand Prince Volodymyr. In Russian his name is Vladimir. In Ukrainian Volodymyr and as fate would have it, these are also the names of the presidents of these two countries today.

Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians draw their lineage from this Slavic state. A lot changed in the centuries that followed, and for a lot of it Ukraine was under Russian rule in the 1900s the two were Soviet republics. Russia, the most powerful of the 15 republics and Ukraine, the second most powerful. It had defense industries, large agricultural lands, and housed much of the Soviet nuclear arsenal.

During the Cold War, Ukraine was the arch rival of the United States. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. Ukraine became independent, as did Russia. Ukraine inherited much of Soviet nuclear arsenal, but gave it up to Russia in 1994. In exchange, Moscow guaranteed Ukraine security and promised to respect its sovereignty.

They signed the Budapest Memorandum along with Belarus, Kazakhstan, United States and the United States of America.

Let us cut to November 2013, when Viktor Yanukovich was the President of Ukraine. He had a reputation for heavy handedness, corruption and above all, for being openly pro Moscow.

In 2013, he rejected an EU trade deal. This deal could have meant greater integration with the European Union. Instead, Yanukovych decided to take a $15 billion bailout from Russia, which to many Ukrainians, it felt like being sold to Moscow, so protests broke out.

They were called Euromaidan, Euro because these protests were about Europe and maidan because they happened in Kiev’s Maidan, what we today know as the Independence Square.

Here, protesters chanted signed the EU deal. Yanukovich must step down. Russia supported the president, the West supported the protesters. In February 2014, Yanukovich government was toppled. The president was driven out of Ukraine. He fled to Russia.

Not every Ukrainian was happy with this. Many in the Russian speaking East wanted Yanukovych to stay when he was driven out, the minority felt disenfranchised on the other side of the border. Russia was angry, it had lost its puppet. To salvage the situation Moscow annexed Crimea.

Why annex Crimea?

Well, let me now zoom into this part of the world for you. Crimea is a peninsula located in the Black Sea. In 1954 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea and was given to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Why? Khrushchev hoped the transfer would strengthen,

“brotherly ties between the Ukrainian and Russian people”.

Nikita Khrushchev

Both Russia and Crimea were part of the Soviet Union, so this transfer did not mean very much. When Ukraine became independent in 1991, Crimea joined it. The peninsula was given special autonomy.

Crimea remained home to Russian military bases. Moscow promised to respect Crimean autonomy. Many in Russia were of the opinion that Crimea should not have been allowed to join Ukraine.

In 2014, when Yanukovych was ousted from power in Ukraine. Russian military began seizing government buildings in Crimea. Soon the entire peninsula was under military occupation.

A referendum followed on the 16th of March 2014, Crimeans voted to become a part of Russia. Was this vote legitimate? Well, it depends on who you ask, for Putin, this was Crimea’s liberation, and for the rest of the world this was Crimea’s annexation.

The focus then shifted to eastern Ukraine, where Russia backed separatists had seized territory. Ukrainian forces did not launch an all out offensive at first, but on the 17th of July 2014, when the Malaysian Airlines, flight number MH 370 carrying 298 people were shot down by these rebels, Ukrainian forces decided to flush out the rebels.

The separatists began losing ground, so the Russian army stepped in. They invaded eastern Ukraine and fought alongside the rebels. What followed was a series of talks between Russia, Ukraine and the West. They resulted in the Minsk Accords. This was first signed in 2014. Both sides agreed on a ceasefire and military withdrawal. Ukraine agreed to hold elections in the rebel held areas eight years on the Minsk Accords remain unimplemented.

Ukraine stands as the largest European country, excluding Russia. It covers an area of more than 600,000 square kilometers with a population of 44 million and a GDP of more than $155 billion. Per capita income more than $3700 today,

Ukraine is divided between East and West in more ways than one. The West sees itself as more European. The East is closer to Russia beat in terms of geography or sentiment in the West, most Ukrainians speak Ukrainian. In the East, a third are native Russians. In the West, Russia has looked at with suspicion. In the East, Russia is looked at through the lens of shared history and heritage.

Ukraine also remained at war even before Russia invaded. Ukrainian forces were fighting the rebels in the east. Rebel leaders were ruling at least two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk. Together, they’re known as the Donbass region. Russia had sent and stationed it’s troops right at the border, before actually breaking out war.

What does Vladimir Putin want?

Putin wants NATO to stop expanding, NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty organization. It is a military alliance. Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States, are the founding members of NATO. These countries joined it during the Cold War. And Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in 1999, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia were admitted in 2004; and Albania and Croatia acceded to the alliance in 2009. Ukraine wants to join NATO too, but Putin wants NATO to exclude Ukraine and every former Soviet state. And this is just half the story.

A lot is hidden in history. For starters, there is domestic politics. When Putin annexed Crimea, his approval rating skyrocketed, keeping the nationalistic drum. Rolling helps the Russian President annexing parts of Ukraine also helps Putin restore Russia superpower image.

Again back to history, many Russians view Ukraine’s independence as a mistake. It is true that Ukraine was ruled by Russia. In fact, Ukraine has barely remained independent pre 1991. There was a brief period before World War One, and then another stint in 1600, for the rest of its modern history, Ukraine was under Russia.

1 in 6 Ukrainians is an ethnic Russian, 1 in 3 speaks Russian as a native language. So Putin is right when he says historically they were one. But claiming you create on the basis of colonial history is wrong.

It will be like Britain claiming India, India claiming Pakistan or South Africa or Spain claiming the Philippines past imperialism cannot justify present day expansionism.

Here’s what else history tells us. Ukraine was forcefully russified. Cut to year 1700 Russian leader Catherine the Great started crucifying Ukraine. Ethnic Russians were shipped to this part of the world. Schools were told to teach Russian language. By 1800 the Ukrainian language was banned.

In 1930s Soviet leader Joseph Stalin steered a famine in Ukraine. Millions of eastern Ukrainians were killed. The area was then re-populated with ethnic Russians in the 1940s.

The ethnic Tartars were relocated. They too were replaced with Russians. There is a reason why eastern Ukraine today has so many native Russian speakers. It was designed to be that way. Eastern Ukraine was always dear to Russia. It has coal, it has iron, and it has fertile land.

Its historical connection with Russia was forced both in time and Putin again and again talks about the holy Ruse, he says. Russians and Ukrainians are one people, a claim that 70% Ukrainians reject while 72% consider Russia a hostile state today.

33.3% Ukrainians are ready to take up arms against Russia, 21.7% are ready to stage a civil resistance against Russia. 67% Ukrainians want to join the EU. 59% want to join the NATO.

The current Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky came to power in 2019 following a landslide victory. He’s a vocal critic of Russia. Zalenski openly opposes Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine.

Volodimir Zalenski represents the pulse of Ukraine. The Ukraine that wants to remain independent of Russia. But Vladimir Putin wants to become the man who revived Russian imperialism. He does not realize the world has moved on.