DISCLAIMER : This article was prepared or accomplished by the author in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the view of the Foreign Service Institute, the Department of Foreign Affairs, or the Philippine government.
The last few weeks have been abuzz with news on a hitherto minor country with little exposure to the media and much of the general Philippine public. In the international press, this issue, along with the search for the missing Malaysian commercial jet, has effectively overtaken the Syrian Civil War in terms of coverage.
Ukraine as a political, independent, and sovereign entity didn't exist right up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Previously it was ruled by various foreign powers throughout much of its history. You had the Austrian Empire ruling large tracts of western Ukraine centered on the city of Lviv after it conquered it from Poland-Lithuania, before reverting back to Poland again after World War One and coming under the Soviet Union in 1940 and part of modern Ukraine in 1991. Then there's the Crimean Peninsula, centre of the confrontation between the West and Russia, which was formerly under the rule of the Tatars allied to the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) until Russia under Catherine the Great annexed it in 1774. The eastern portions of Ukraine were also formerly under the rule of imperial Russia. Crimea remained a part of Russia until February 1954 when it became part of Soviet Ukraine. And Kiev/Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, was once part of the Russian Empire as well. Its importance is underscored by the fact that it is considered the birthplace of Russian civilization and of the Russian Orthodox Church, the religion of many Russians and other Slavic and Eastern European peoples.
That's a mouthful.
It certainly is, so let's break each part down to see the consequences.
In 1954, then Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev decided to gift Ukraine with Crimea as a token of friendship between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. Substantively, this didn't matter much anyway since both the Russian Soviet Federative Republic (SFR) and the Ukrainian SFR were part of the same sovereign state or "country", the Soviet Union. Kind of like how the ongoing spat between the cities of Taguig and Makati over who owns Bonifacio Global City will ultimately not amount to much in the international arena since it's all still territorially part of the Philippines anyway. Little did they know that the USSR would collapse decades later and now cause an international crisis. This is why today there are many ethnic Russians living in Crimea, composing 58% of the population compared to 24% Ukrainians in a 2001 census.
Further complicating the situation are the mostly Muslim Tatars who make up a sizable minority (12%) with deep roots in the region. As earlier mentioned, Tatars, an ethnic group related to modern day Turks (which introduces yet another variable into the equation : Turkey's involvement and its role as a NATO member), were once the dominant local people ruling the peninsula. After Russia conquered it, the Tatar population steadily decreased to 34% in 1897, to 19% in 1939 on the eve of the Second World War, to a horrifying zero percent after the war. This reflected then Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's brutal policy of deportation and ethnic cleansing as collective punishment for collaboration of some Tatars with Hitler's Nazi Germany. They have since been allowed back to their homeland, yet the memories of repression have ingrained in them a knee-jerk suspicion of Moscow's power, which is why a lot of them chose to boycott the referendum and wish to remain with Ukraine.
So Crimea is important to Russia for military and historical reasons. Why is the rest of the Ukraine tearing up as well ?
I mentioned earlier the historical, almost sacred, significance of Kyiv. It is the birthplace of the Kievan Rus, the first Slavic state from which Russians and Ukrainians, both Slavic people, draw their ancestry and heritage. In fact, the Russian and Ukrainian languages are very similar and both employ the Cyrillic alphabet (think of how the various Philippine ethnic groups have similarities and common heritage and languages with Indonesians and Malaysians). This is why, in the Middle Ages, Ukraine was sometimes called Little Rus or Little Russia. The word "Ukraine" itself is said to mean "borderland", reflecting a Russo-centric perspective. It is for these reasons that Russian President Vladimir Putin is loth to see Ukraine join the EU and/or NATO (which is what triggered the whole crisis) since it sees itself as the "big brother" of Ukraine. For him, the latter should thus naturally fall within Russia's orbit as opposed to the West. Many ethnic Russians living in Crimea and the eastern parts of Ukraine feel the same way.
In western Ukraine, pro-Russian sentiment is not as high as there are less ethnic Russians and people who speak Russian as a first language. As pointed out earlier, this part of Ukraine is traditionally more Western in outlook owing to its history as part of former Western countries like Poland and Austria. In fact, eastern Ukrainian cities look more like Russian industrial towns compared to the western Renaissance architecture of western cities.
Wait, so how did this crisis directly start anyway ?
I discussed the crisis itself in detail here.
The last few weeks have been abuzz with news on a hitherto minor country with little exposure to the media and much of the general Philippine public. In the international press, this issue, along with the search for the missing Malaysian commercial jet, has effectively overtaken the Syrian Civil War in terms of coverage.
Events have moved at a lightning pace and took everyone by surprise, with fears of a new World War exploding once again in Europe.
To get a grip on the whole mess, let's take a quick trip down memory lane and see why Ukraine matters so much.
Ukraine as a political, independent, and sovereign entity didn't exist right up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Previously it was ruled by various foreign powers throughout much of its history. You had the Austrian Empire ruling large tracts of western Ukraine centered on the city of Lviv after it conquered it from Poland-Lithuania, before reverting back to Poland again after World War One and coming under the Soviet Union in 1940 and part of modern Ukraine in 1991. Then there's the Crimean Peninsula, centre of the confrontation between the West and Russia, which was formerly under the rule of the Tatars allied to the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey) until Russia under Catherine the Great annexed it in 1774. The eastern portions of Ukraine were also formerly under the rule of imperial Russia. Crimea remained a part of Russia until February 1954 when it became part of Soviet Ukraine. And Kiev/Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, was once part of the Russian Empire as well. Its importance is underscored by the fact that it is considered the birthplace of Russian civilization and of the Russian Orthodox Church, the religion of many Russians and other Slavic and Eastern European peoples.
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| Modern Ukraine. (Source : Wikimedia Commons) |
It certainly is, so let's break each part down to see the consequences.
In 1954, then Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev decided to gift Ukraine with Crimea as a token of friendship between the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. Substantively, this didn't matter much anyway since both the Russian Soviet Federative Republic (SFR) and the Ukrainian SFR were part of the same sovereign state or "country", the Soviet Union. Kind of like how the ongoing spat between the cities of Taguig and Makati over who owns Bonifacio Global City will ultimately not amount to much in the international arena since it's all still territorially part of the Philippines anyway. Little did they know that the USSR would collapse decades later and now cause an international crisis. This is why today there are many ethnic Russians living in Crimea, composing 58% of the population compared to 24% Ukrainians in a 2001 census.
 |
| (Source : Wikimedia Commons) |
Further complicating the situation are the mostly Muslim Tatars who make up a sizable minority (12%) with deep roots in the region. As earlier mentioned, Tatars, an ethnic group related to modern day Turks (which introduces yet another variable into the equation : Turkey's involvement and its role as a NATO member), were once the dominant local people ruling the peninsula. After Russia conquered it, the Tatar population steadily decreased to 34% in 1897, to 19% in 1939 on the eve of the Second World War, to a horrifying zero percent after the war. This reflected then Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's brutal policy of deportation and ethnic cleansing as collective punishment for collaboration of some Tatars with Hitler's Nazi Germany. They have since been allowed back to their homeland, yet the memories of repression have ingrained in them a knee-jerk suspicion of Moscow's power, which is why a lot of them chose to boycott the referendum and wish to remain with Ukraine.
So Crimea is important to Russia for military and historical reasons. Why is the rest of the Ukraine tearing up as well ?
I mentioned earlier the historical, almost sacred, significance of Kyiv. It is the birthplace of the Kievan Rus, the first Slavic state from which Russians and Ukrainians, both Slavic people, draw their ancestry and heritage. In fact, the Russian and Ukrainian languages are very similar and both employ the Cyrillic alphabet (think of how the various Philippine ethnic groups have similarities and common heritage and languages with Indonesians and Malaysians). This is why, in the Middle Ages, Ukraine was sometimes called Little Rus or Little Russia. The word "Ukraine" itself is said to mean "borderland", reflecting a Russo-centric perspective. It is for these reasons that Russian President Vladimir Putin is loth to see Ukraine join the EU and/or NATO (which is what triggered the whole crisis) since it sees itself as the "big brother" of Ukraine. For him, the latter should thus naturally fall within Russia's orbit as opposed to the West. Many ethnic Russians living in Crimea and the eastern parts of Ukraine feel the same way.
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| Ukraine and Belarus, both Slavic nations, were once part of the Russian Empire. (Source : Maps of World) |
Wait, so how did this crisis directly start anyway ?
I discussed the crisis itself in detail here.
When Mr Yanukovych reneged on the deal, Putin got a temporary, satisfactory victory over a humiliated EU. But this triggered protests all over the country by pro-EU quarters of the population, leading to the heavy civil unrest you probably saw so much on TV and in the newspapers which then lead to Yanukovych's flight from power, to the ushering in of a Western-oriented interim government, and ultimately to the Russian reaction and Crimean referendum. And now we have the Russians and Europeans and Americans in a tense stare-down not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis, causing an international furore and a huge dip in stock markets.
First, what's this trade deal that started all this scuffle ? It's basically a negotiation between Kyiv and Brussels that bestows economic rights many EU citizens already enjoy on Ukrainian citizens : higher freedom of movement of businesses and peoples within EU countries, elimination of customs and barriers to trade, EU investment in Ukrainian cities, the works. On paper this seems like a pretty fair deal, but a big loser in all this would have been Putin who would like to keep the Ukrainian economy tied to Russia's. Russia has always viewed itself as fundamentally different and a counterweight to the perceived hegemony of first Western Europe and then the United States.
First, what's this trade deal that started all this scuffle ? It's basically a negotiation between Kyiv and Brussels that bestows economic rights many EU citizens already enjoy on Ukrainian citizens : higher freedom of movement of businesses and peoples within EU countries, elimination of customs and barriers to trade, EU investment in Ukrainian cities, the works. On paper this seems like a pretty fair deal, but a big loser in all this would have been Putin who would like to keep the Ukrainian economy tied to Russia's. Russia has always viewed itself as fundamentally different and a counterweight to the perceived hegemony of first Western Europe and then the United States.
Indeed, Mr Putin has previously deplored the collapse of the Soviet Union, calling it the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century not so much because he was a fervent believer in communism, but because he resented the loss of his country's power and prestige. EU proposals that Ukraine join NATO, a anti-Soviet Cold War-era treaty alliance guaranteeing that member states come to the aid of an attacked state, only serve to confirm Putin's worst fears about European encroachment in Russia's backyard; aside from being historically and culturally important, Ukraine is geographically crucial as well since it directly borders Russia; an EU-Ukraine economic deal might be the precursor to a NATO military deal and the installation of NATO missiles and other military assets right on Russia's doorstep. In addition, Ukraine is considered one of the breadbaskets of the world, exporting millions of tonnes of grain a year both to Russia and Europe.
In this sense, combining all the historical, cultural, and geographical reasons, we get a sense of why Ukraine is an extremely important country and that it signifies a non-negotiable red line for the Russians; if the Russian government is already acting severely intransigent on Syria, a faraway country, it's easy to understand, if not sympathize with, its sharp, belligerent reaction to perceived European meddling in its own backyard.
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| A war of words. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (Source : Press TV) |
Thus despite the West's insistence on it, the current tug-of-war is less an issue on human rights, self-determination, and freedom and democracy, than it is on realpolitik, international prestige, economics, and a revival of Cold War-style splits. The only real losers here are the Ukrainian people caught in the middle of the West's and Russia's power plays. "It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace."
As always, comments and criticism are highly encouraged !
It is really refreshing to read an article on the current crisis that is not written from a fundamentaly anti-Russian and pro-Western perspective. Not that I would welcome the Russian policy on Crimea or in the UN Security Council, but the media in Germany and other western countries is making a fool out of itself these days when they condemn everything Putin does and says without much questioning of what our own political leaders do and say, which is usually not much more consistent...
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