It is true that there is a lot of tension between the two countries, the problem is that Moscow does not accept the independence of kyiv. Both nations have a history dating back to the Middle Ages, with common roots in the East Slavic state of Kievan Rus’. After reading this post you will be able to understand the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine: the whole history and origin of the conflict.
To tell the truth, both nations had separate destinies for centuries, thus giving rise to two languages and cultures. In the case of Russia, it became an empire, while Ukraine did not consolidate its own state. In the 17th century, much of the territory of Ukraine belonged to the Russian Empire. When it fell apart in 1917, Ukraine was briefly independent and was later conquered by Soviet Russia.
Ukraine breaks away from the Soviet Union
in 1991Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were the three nations that sealed the disintegration of the Soviet Union. However, Moscow still wanted to retain its influence, so it decided to create the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which would be an instrument to achieve it. In addition, the Kremlin thought that with the supply of cheap gas it would be able to control the neighboring country. But it did not happen that way, while Russia and Belarus allied themselves, Ukraine set its sights on the West.
That position adopted by Ukraine, the Kremlin did not like it, even so, there were no conflicts in the 90s. However, Moscow did not worry about it, because the West did not want to integrate Ukraine. Russia was economically weakened, among other things by the war in Chechnya. In 1997through the signing of the call “Great Treaty”, Moscow recognized the border with Ukraineincluding the Russian ethnic groups who lived on the Crimean peninsula.
Russia and Ukraine. First frictions of post-Soviet friendship
Russia and Ukraine began to have the first political crisis under Putin’s presidency. In 2003, Russia began construction of a dam across the Kerch Strait that faced the Ukrainian islet of Tuzla. Ukraine reacted and saw it as an attempt to redefine the border. However, the conflict did not escalate and was resolved after a bilateral meeting between the two presidents. The work was not completed, but the friendship of both presidents was fractured.
When there were presidential elections in 2004, Russia gave its support to the pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych. However, his victory was prevented by the “Orange Revolution”, winning the pro-Western politician Viktor Yúshchenco. In 2006 and 2009, Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine. Also, it interrupted transit to the European Union (EU).
By 2008, then-US President George Bush attempted to integrate Ukraine and Georgia into NATO. However, Moscow stated that it would not accept Ukraine’s independence. This desire of Bush was not possible because Germany and France prevented it from happening. Then, at the NATO summit held in Bucharest, there was a dialogue between Ukraine and Georgia on NATO membership, but no date was set.
Ukraine realized that there was no progress with NATO, so it decided to promote a connection with the West through a Association Agreement with the European Union. In 2013, months before the signing took place, Moscow put economic pressure on kyiv, hampering Ukrainian imports. This caused then-Ukrainian President Yanukovych to suspend the negotiated agreement. In February 2014 he fled to Russia after sparking opposition protests.
The Kremlin annexes Crimea in 2014
Following the power vacuum in kyiv, the Kremlin took advantage and annexed Crimea in 2014. This was the turning point of an undeclared war. At the same time that this was happening, Russian military forces were mobilizing in the mining areas of Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. Donetsk and Lugansk were proclaimed “people’s republics”, the Russians were in the lead.
After the 2014 presidential elections, the kyiv government launched a military offensive which it called “Anti-Terrorist Operation”. That same year, on the occasion of the celebration of the 70th Anniversary of Normandy’s D-Day, Putin and the newly elected Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenco, met for the first time, with Germany and France as the mediating countries. This is how the so-called Normandy Quartetmade up of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia.
At that time, the Ukrainian army pushed the separatists back. kyiv stated that Russia intervened militarily and massively, but Moscow flatly denied this. The Ukrainian forces that were in Ilovaisk (east of Donestsk) were defeated. This broad front war culminated in September after the signing of the armistice in Minsk.
Russia and Ukraine. trench warfare
A conflict had already broken out between Russia and Ukraine, leading to trench warfare. The separatists went on the offensive at the end of 2015, claiming in kyiv that the Russian Army had been deployed, Moscow denied everything. This led to a second defeat by the Ukrainian forces in the strategic city of Dabaltsebo. This conflict gave rise to Minsk-2 peace agreementwith the West as mediator, but today this is not the case.
By 2019, troops from each country had withdrawn, but Putin refused to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he was not implemented in the Minsk agreements. Since 2021, Putin has demanded that the US prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and not receiving military aid. But this demand is rejected by NATO.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine still persists. Ukraine has already suddenly and unexpectedly become an ungovernable state. After being one of the most stable post-Soviet republics from an economic, political and social point of view in the 1990s, it became an unstable zone, with many armed conflicts and nationalist resentments that were encouraged at the beginning, from outside its borders. Today there are already many dead and millions displaced by this conflict.
All these conflicts gave rise to economic sanctions and protests against Russia and the request to return the Ukrainian territory, but Putin refused to do so.
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