A Brief History of Russia-Ukraine Relations
A Brief History of Russia-Ukraine Relations
- Close relations after fall of USSR.
- Founding member of CIS, did not join [[CTSO]].
- Transferred its nuclear warheads to Russia in 1994 under Budapest Memorandum. Russia in turn promised to respect Ukraine’s territorial sov. Failed.
- Cycle of pro-west and pro-Russian govts.
- 2004- Russia annexed Crimea.
- Parts of the Eastern Ukraine (Donbas region bordering Russia) under the control of Russian- backed insurgents since 2014
- Ukraine had been pushing the West to expedite its NATO membership which eventually precipitated the present invasion.
- Erstwhile USSR Republics and the former Communist States in USSR Sphere of influence have joined NATO
Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia were erstwhile USSR Republics. Romania and Bulgaria were under USSR influence.
- Complete encirclement of Russia’s western border by NATO
- American foreign policy experts: NATO should have never moved close to Russia’s borders. Russia perceives NATO as an existential threat. But NATO’s open-door policy says sovereign countries can choose their own security alliances.
- 2021, Russia had proposed an agreement with USA/NATO and shared a draft listing its demands of ‘Security Guarantees’:
- Assurance from NATO that Ukraine and Georgia won’t be inducted into NATO;
- NATO should reduce its deployments in Central and Eastern Europe;
- NATO to reduce proactive military activity on Russia’s borders.