Russia-Ukraine Conflict: know what’s happening there.
If you are a news person you must have come across the Russia-Ukraine conflict in recent times. Russia had assembled more than 1 lakh soldiers near the border of Ukraine and they could invade Ukraine at any time according to some western news organizations if this happens America and NATO countries could put economic sanctions and trade barriers on Russia. Before this, you need to figure out why this is happening, how it started, why it started, when it started.
Know about Ukraine
Ukraine is the second-largest country in Europe by area, it’s almost of size equal to a combined Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the second and third largest state of India by population. The population of Ukraine is around 4.2 crore which equals the estimated population of Telangana. It was a part of the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union breaks down in 1991 to 15 independent countries. It is wedged between Russia in the east and Europe in the West. People in Ukraine are politically divided into two ideologies, that is Pro Russian who mostly are from Eastern Ukraine, and Pro European those who live in the Western part of Ukraine.
What exactly is the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine?
Since its separation from the Soviet Union, the political heads of Ukraine had always wished of being a part of the European Union and NATO. The increasing close ties of Ukraine with the west are what Russia and Putin cannot tolerate. Historically Ukraine has always been under Russian Influence, first as a part of the Russian Empire and then as a Soviet republic, though the Soviet was a combination of 15 countries, Russia was the largest, most influential, and was the center of power for the union. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia thinks the breaking away of nations from the Soviet Union is unfortunate and ideally, they should come back to the Russian influence, even if they don’t they should at least refrain from joining west allies(NATO).
Russia does not want Ukraine in NATO. Russian president Vlamidar Putin has reportedly said Ukraine’s aspiration to join NATO is a threat to Russia and expressed concern about plans by some NATO members to set up military training centers in Ukraine. Russia has always demanded to halt any NATO military drills near the Russian border which can happen if Ukraine joins NATO. Ultimately Russia doesn’t want an eastward extension of NATO.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO yet but it wants to be. It is considered a partner of the alliance. Adding Ukraine to NATO could help them expand their military foothold in the region and further jeopardize their relationship with Moscow, which Russia does not want at any cost.
What is NATO?
NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization which is an intergovernmental military alliance between 27 European countries, 2 North American countries, and 1 Eurasian nation. This came into existence on 4 April 1949. The sole aim of this alliance is to protect the 12 founding members (which has been extended to 30 nations over time) from a possible attack on Germany and the Soviet Union. The very nature of this alliance was to counter the Soviet which now firmly represents Russia.
Article 5 of NATO is what makes its strong, a commitment that an attack on any country is treated as an attack on the entire alliance.
How the Conflict can affect India?
If in any case Russia invades Ukraine and war happens, America and Europe have already threatened Russia to put economic sanctions which they will, and that ultimately going to affect the whole of the international market, specifically due to the large scale crude oil export done by Russia so, this could make crude oil costly so India will have to build options with Russia, which could come with sanctions. The war could bring Russia and China close and the latter one have already ongoing border tension with New Delhi so India needs to balance the relationship with Moscow to which it shares strong military and economic ties and America. At the same time have to stand firmly on issues related to China like territorial tension in the south East Asia region where Beijing plays the role of an expansionist.
