Russia

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After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the cooperation of several post-Soviet states with Western organizations (WTO, NATO, EU), Russia saw these actions as a threat to its geopolitical power in the region (Roslycky, 2011, 299). Putin has worked since being elected President to restore Russia’s political, economic, and geostrategic assets that were lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union. One of the pillars of his strategy is regional control over the external policy of the neighboring countries. This was seen in Georgia that aspired to become a member in NATO, and in Ukraine after the President was close to signing a trade agreement with the European Union (Aron, 2013).
After the overthrowing of former Ukrainian President Yanukovich, Russia quickly moved in order to regain control over the strategic Crimea.

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a peninsula in southern Ukraine extending into the Black Sea with a population of about 2.5 million people, 60% of which are ethnic Russians; in addition, Crimean Tatar, who were brutally deported to Central Asia by Stalin during WWII, make up about 10 to 12% of the population (Varettoni, 2011, 89).
Crimea was part of the Russian empire since 1783 but was transferred to Ukraine as a gift by Nikita Khrushchev in 1953. It was not a significant move at the time because it was still part of the Soviet Union.
Russia’s major interest in Crimea is the Black Sea Fleet base in Sevastopol. The 2010 Kharkiv Agreements extended the presence of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, Crimea in exchange for a 30% discount on natural gas imports from Russia worth up to 40 billion dollars over 10 years (Varettoni, 2011, 87).
Crimea has a strategic position because it allow...

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...recognition of the UN. Several individual states like Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, and of course Russia have publicly backed the annexation of Crimea (Rosenberg, 2014, 8).

Russia’s proposed solution in Ukraine is de-escalating tensions and ensuring the security of all residents in Ukraine by confiscating the weapons of extremist groups, ensuring the rights of national minorities including the language, considering the interests of all regions in Ukraine which can only be done through federalization, not allowing an escalation of tensions in neighboring territories (Russia is concerned about Kiev’s actions in Transnistria which violate the rights of residents), and not allowing the proliferation of nuclear weapons (A bill has been submitted in the Ukrainian parliament to withdraw from the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) (Ponomareva, 2014).

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