Paper Example on Causes of Russian Intervention in Ukraine

Introduction

In 2014, the Russian Federation intervened in the Ukrainian crisis and annexed the autonomous region of Crimea. The crisis began with President Viktor Yanukovych rejection of a proposed trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union. The move sparked violent protests from members of the public with the support of members of the opposition who wanted economic reforms. The people cited the rampant government corruption and the president's ignorance of the opinion of the Ukrainian people as among the reasons why they wanted him to resign. The proposed EU deal would have allowed Ukraine to be part of the European Union's trade agreements. Instead, President Viktor signed a deal with Russia, in which Ukraine would receive $15 Billion in the form of aid from Russia and some other economic agreements. To further worsen the situation, President Viktor tried to use a heavy hand against the protesters by using the police and the military. That move sparked even more protests, and by mid-February of 2014, the opposition protesters had completely taken over the capital (Curran, 2015). President Viktor fearing for his life fled to Russia. The Russians realized that their political influence in Ukraine was diminishing and responded by annexing the autonomous region of Crimea. The rest of the international community condemned this move by Russia as a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty. Russia intervened in Ukraine for purposes of protecting its economic interests; to protect the Russian speaking people in Ukraine and to maintain its regional supremacy.

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Reasons for Intervention

Russia has a long-standing trade agreement with Ukraine that allows Ukrainian goods to enter Russia without paying customs duty. The European Union deal with Ukraine would have allowed European commodities to flood the Ukrainian market. The products from Europe would have found their way into Russia. These European products would present two main challenges to the Russian economy (Haukkala, 2015). For one, the European products would be cheap because of the proposed trade deal between Ukraine and the European Union. The products are also of higher quality when compared to the Russian goods. These two factors combined are enough motivation for consumers in the region to go for European commodities at the expense of Russian made goods.

There is also the problem with the customs duty that Russia collects from European products that enter Russia. A trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union would provide a backdoor through which European commodities would enter the Russian market without paying customs duty. Such an outcome would see the Russian government lose an important source of revenue. European products entering the Russian market without paying customs also devalues the rubble which depends on foreign exchange earned from European commodities.

Russia was also seeking to protect the Ukrainians who identify themselves as Russians. Several independent republics emerged when the Soviet Union collapsed. These republics are still trying to forge their identity on the global stage. The largest of these was the Russian Federation which found its identity within the culture and language of Russian speaking people in the region. There are pockets of Russian speaking populations within the other republics. The Russians consider it their responsibility to protect these other Russian speaking populations in these regions. The annexed region of Crimea has some pockets of ethnic Russians as majorities, and Russia sees the annexation of Crimea as a move to protect these people.

Russia is also looking to re-establish its Soviet-era dominance in the region. The Cold War may be over, but Russia still values its regional supremacy. The proposed deal between Ukraine and the European Union was coming at a time when Russia is looking to increase the influence it has on the world. Russia was about to host the Sochi Olympics along with the G8 summit which would attract some positive publicity for Russia on a global stage. The Russians see the proposed EU deal with Ukraine as an attempt by EU to undercut Russian dominance in the region (Kofman & Rojansky, 2015).

Moscow blamed the US and NATO for conspiracy to invade their cultural territories. They see the move by the EU as an attempt by the West to diminish the Russian dominance in the region. It is important to understand that many people in Ukraine still consider themselves as Russians. Part of the crisis in Ukraine is that there are pro-Russian supporters who want association with Russia and anti-Russia supporters who are against Russian involvement in the Ukrainian crisis. However, the Russians feel justified to intervene because of the pockets of people who identify themselves as Russians. The Russian annexation of Crimea is a Russian solution to the West's involvement in what Russia terms as Russian territories. By arming the pro-Russia supporters and annexing the region of Crimea, they retain their influence in Ukraine and the region.

Conclusion

The Russian Federation intervened in the Ukrainian crisis to protect their economic and geopolitical interests. The proposed trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU posed a threat to Russian economic interests. The long-standing free trade agreement between Russia and Ukraine would have allowed European commodities to enter Russia without paying customs duty. The Russians also intervened because some sections of the people in Ukraine still identify themselves as Russians. They also wanted to maintain their regional supremacy because they view the proposed trade agreement as an attempt by the west to encroach on Russian cultural heritage.

References

Curran, J. R. (2015, March 11). Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Explained. Retrieved from HuffPost: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-curran2/russian-Ukrainian-conflict-explained_b_4909192.html

Haukkala, H. (2015). From cooperative to contested Europe? The conflict in Ukraine as a culmination of a long-term crisis in EU-Russia relations. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 23(1), 25-40.

Kofman, M., & Rojansky, M. (2015). A Closer Look at Russia's' hybrid War.' Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.