On Wednesday, Oct. 15, the Center for Global Understanding hosted the Ware Seminar: The Ukrainian Conflict: A New World Order in Gibble Auditorium. The lecturers were Professor of Strategy and Director of Russian and Eurasian studies at the U.S. Army War College Dr. Craig Nation and Elizabethtown College faculty members Assistant Professor of Economics Dr. Dmitriy Krichevskiy and Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Anya Goldina. The lecture summarized the events revolving around the tension between Ukraine and Russia.
It is an ongoing conflict that is far from resolved. The tension dates back to the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Ukraine suffered during its post-communism transition, there was political corruption and declining standards of living. The political instability led to the Orange Revolution in 2004, which led to the election of former President Viktor Yanukovych. However, none of the underlying problems were resolved.
Eventually Ukraine had to choose which politico-economic group to side with for economic association and strategic orientation: the European Union or the Russian Federation. Yanukovych was forced to choose, and sided with the Russian Federation since it offered financial aid and to reduce the price of energy resources. Demonstrators who opposed his decision met on Independence Square to protest.
Nation explained the two perspectives on their account of how the conflict unfolds. The western narrative is that this is a democratic revolution opposing authoritarian ideals, fighting a government that uses force against its own civilians. Their revolution caused Yanukovych to flee to Russia and elected a new president, Petro Poroshenko. Under Poroshenko’s new direction, Ukraine strives for a relationship with the EU. The Russian Federation is seen as the enemy, trying to frustrate and subvert the Ukraine by acting egregiously to uphold the transition, which is why Russia annexed Crimea. They are using all of its resources to stir Eastern Ukraine, which is a culturally Russian speaking group with affinities to Russia, to oppose the Western Ukraine presidency.
Russia armed the pro-Russian separatists to take over cities and develop pro-Russian sentiment. The Ukraine has an undertrained military, so to compensate, they enlisted militias to fight the rebels. However, one extremist right wing group burned people alive, which fed support for pro-Russia insurgency. Ukraine’s defeat came when they pushed too far south, allowing their forces to be cut off. It was a disastrous effort with no public support, the militias were unorganized and hit with heavy artillery. The Ukrainian government was forced into a cease-fire, though there is still sporadic fighting around Donetsk airport. The cease-fire did not solve any of the underlying problems of the dispute and the government has naysayers that see the ceasefire as a time to rearm and resume fighting.
Krichevskiy emphasized Putin’s point of view. The Russian perspective is that though the protestors were an expression of legitimate anger. However, the West and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is influencing Ukraine in a way that threatens the Motherland, and it is their duty to protect her. Putin sees NATO as a force surrounding Russia, and they must defend itself from the aggression of NATO which they think is funded by the CIA. Their reason for the Crimea annexation is that it is linguistically Russia, so to Russia, they are Slavic brothers. Crimea is strategically important because it holds their naval base in the Black Sea. Though they have another naval base, the Crimean naval base is critical because their second naval base is in Syria which is too unstable to be reliable. They view the pro-Russian separatists as taking Crimea back, which is why they make sure the rebels are well funded. To Russians, they are returning an area back to the motherland.
Anya Goldina focused on the human aspects of war. The people in the conflict are the grand children of veterans of World War II. Despite the prowess of political theory of their strategies, Goldina condemns their actions because they put people’s lives at risk. If the Russians view the Ukrainians as brothers, how can they wage war with them? Goldina does not view their actions as justifiable for the sake of protecting and expanding their borders.
–Noel Abastillas
