Page 11
April/May 2014
Crimean Crisis
Cold War Era Tensions on the Rise as Russia Annexes Part of Russia
Ian MacLeod
Associate Editor
On February 28, the citizens of the
Crimean Peninsula, a small piece of
land jutting out of Ukraine and into the
Black Sea, woke up to find that armed
men had surrounded their major airports while others had taken the regional parliament building. Flash forward to March 16, the official results
of a vote were published showing that
a suspiciously large majority of participants (97 percent) had decided to
allow their land to be absorbed back
into Russia, the region‘s former master. Two days later, Russian President
Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with the
newly minted ―Republic of the Crimea,‖ officially making it a part of the
Russian Federation. How did this happen?
For many years the Crimea was a part
of Russia, and was originally conquered
by Catharine the Great in 1783. After
World War II, it became a part of the
totalitarian and Russian dominated
Soviet Union. In 1954 it was handed
over to Ukraine by Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev. At the time,
Ukraine was also a part of the Soviet
Union, making the transfer inconsequential. But, when the Red Empire
collapsed in 1991, and Ukraine gained
independence, the Crimean Peninsula
went along with it.
Today ethnic Russians make up about
58 percent of the Crimea‘s population.
Per an agreement between Ukraine
and Russia, the Crimean city of Sevastopol is also the home of Russia‘s Black
Sea Fleet.
Problems arose after Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, who also had
been accused of corruption, rejected
an agreement that would have
strengthened economic ties between
the European Union and his country.
He instead chose to pursue closer ties
with Ukraine‘s former overlord, Russia. Putin was a big supporter of his.
According to the BBC, over 100,000
protestors amassed in the capital city
of Kiev last November. In December
they would take over Kiev‘s city hall
and Independence Square, ―turning it
into a tent city.‖
After weeks of deaths, bloodshed,
arrests, and a legislative attempt at suppressing demonstrations, this series of
protests, dubbed the ―Euromaiden‖ by
Twitter users, reached its climax on
February 20 when 88 people were killed
and many more were injured (according
to the BBC); some reportedly by sniper
fire. The next day Yanukovych agreed to
a compromise deal which the New York
Times reported ―mandates early presidential elections by December, (and) a
swift return to a 2004 constitution that
sharply limited the president‘s powers.‖
Then, in a quick turn of events protestors entered executive buildings and the
Ukrainian Parliament voted to remove
the President from office. They also
voted to free Yulia Tymshenko, an important female politician and a leader of
the previous anti-corruption protests in
2004 who was controversially imprisoned back in 2011. Some claimed that
her imprisonment was politically motivated. The BBC and various news agencies have reported that Yanukoych has
since fled to Russia and in Ukraine a
new government was elected.
The New Crimean War? On February 28, Crimeans found themselves
being silently invaded, or at the very
least in the middle of pro-Russian revolution. According to the BBC armed
men in combat uniforms not bearing any
insignia or other markings appeared
outside of the area‘s major airports
while others took over important government buildings, like the Crimea‘s
Parliament building, raising the Russian
flag above its roof. Checkpoints were
also erected between the peninsula and
Ukraine and there were numerous reports of these gunmen having Russian
military equipment, including helicopters
and armored vehicles.
The Ukrainian government accused
Russia of illegally invading its sovereign
territory, an accusation reiterated by
many spectators in the West such as
President Obama, who on March 1 told
Putin to order his troops back to Russian military bases. As strategic locations
were either being taken over or surrounded by these ―soldiers,‖ the BBC
reported that Putin denied that these
men were part of the Russian military,
instead claiming them to be local militiamen. Later, on March 4, according to
NPR, in a press conference in which he
claimed the men surrounding Ukrainian
military bases were ―local self defense
forces,‖ Putin also said that any action
Russia had taken was done with the
intention of protecting ethnic Russians
in the area.
A referendum to decide whether or
not Crimea should join Russia was held
on March 16, while armed men, most
likely Russian soldiers, occupied the
area. The vote revealed that a 97 percent majority of people who voted
were in favor of being annexed by Russia. This vote is not widely accepted by
western governments as legitimate.
Reports suggested that while many
Crimeans (the majority of whom are
ethnic Russians) were happy at the
prospect of rejoining ―the motherland,‖
others were not and boycotted the
vote, the Tatars in particular. A minority in the Crimea, the Tatars were persecuted and deported by Joseph Stalin
under the suspicion of that they had
aided the Nazis when they invaded the
area during World War II. They are not
keen on living under Russian domination once again.
On March 24 the last of Ukraine‘s
armed forces stationed in the Crimea
left the region. Elsewhere in Ukraine,
pro-Russia demonstrations