Crisis Management And Simulation
Timeline of a rough coexistence
Russian troops occupy Crimea amid pro-Russian protests in Ukraine in 2014; Russian troops mass on the Russian-Ukrainian border; NATO conducts military exercises in Ukraine, reinforcing its members west of Ukraine; Russian intervention in the war in Donbass; international sanctions and condemnation against Russia, contributing in part to the Russian economic crisis (2014–2016). Removal of Russia from the G8 (now G7).Signing of the Minsk Protocol, with both sides later accusing each other that it has not yet been implemented.Movement of Russian troops into separatist-controlled territories. The Russian invasion of Ukraine begins on 24 February 2022 at 05:00 local time, on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who in a public address announced the launch of a special military operation with the ultimate goal of “demilitarizing and denazifying Ukraine”. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, refused to give in to Russia’s demands, and called for the assistance of Western powers to counter the invasion, repeatedly demonstrating the inaction of both the European Union and NATO; the President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced the imposition of a series of economic sanctions on Russian economic actors. He noted the “flagrant violation of the rules of international law”, accusing the Russian president of both expansionism and ambitions to revive the Soviet Union. NATO, the European Union and almost all Western countries have aligned themselves with the views of the US President.
Consequences of the war in the European Union
The EU must find a way to evolve into a viable defence and security actor to be combined with NATO.
Economic problems arising from the turmoil in the Russian-Ukrainian territories, such as the suspension of the certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and the withdrawal of major energy companies from Russia, including BP and Shell, forcing the EU to speed up the construction of LNG terminals. The Union needs a strategic policy towards its Eastern partners. This means reassessing the model of enlargement and the neighbourhood policy, which is still so unclear about its objectives.
Destabilising security in the regions where war is being waged. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raises big questions about the EU’s relations with Moldova, Armenia, Georgia and certainly Ukraine and Belarus. Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine has made these countries insecure and vulnerable.
Henry Kissinger on Ukraine
History will repeat itself if Russia decides to move expansively.
Ukraine and Russia should be mutually supportive, not antagonistic.
The European Union has never acknowledged the fact that the negotiation with Ukraine is based on a crisis.
Such a war will divide the camps into East and West.
The US should seek reconciliation not domination.
Russia can and does move belligerently because it has secured security on its borders.
Ukraine’s formation
A fully independent Ukraine emerged only late in the 20th century, after long periods of successive domination by Poland-Lithuania, Russia, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). Ukraine had experienced a brief period of independence in 1918–20, but portions of western Ukraine were ruled by Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia in the period between the two World Wars, and Ukraine thereafter became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.). When the Soviet Union began to unravel in 1990–91, the legislature of the Ukrainian S.S.R. declared sovereignty (July 16, 1990) and then outright independence (August 24, 1991), a move that was confirmed by popular approval in a plebiscite (December 1, 1991). With the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in December 1991, Ukraine gained full independence. The country changed its official name to Ukraine, and it helped to found the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), an association of countries that were formerly republics of the Soviet Union.
Team: MetaFour
Barbara Alygizaki
Zenia Karampela
Petros Kariatoglou
Petrina Pavlopoulou
