A Ukrainian Crisis: NATO Versus Russia

In the current world, peace rules “peacefully” in most places. However, recently, that has changed, and tensions between players in the world game have escalated.

On February 24, 2022, Russian troops invaded Ukraine, firing bombs into multiple cities, and air raid sirens got heard in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. Russia had reportedly been sending thousands of armed forces to the Russian-Ukrainian border over the last few months, while they said that they had no intentions of an invasion. So how did things end up this way?

As it is with almost everything, everyone has their reasons and opinions. First, let’s make clear the players in this game. Ukraine and Russia are the ones having the conflict. But as it is with international politics, other powers are behind the scenes, in our case, NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. I’ll get to why in a second, but to be clear, when NATO comes to mind, it’s usually more than one country. But for our purposes, NATO would refer to the United States(U.S.), and let’s not forget its partner, the European Union(EU).

Now it’s time to get back to Russia’s “reason” for entering Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin, days before the invasion, signed decrees that recognized two “independent republics,” the Donestk and Luhansk People’s Republics, breakaway separatist regions of Ukraine. Putin then announced a military operation in Ukraine, informally signaling the start of an invasion. Explosions got heard in multiple cities in Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv. However, Russia claims to be defending the two separatist regions they had recognized earlier, not invading Ukraine.

Let’s step back for a moment to look at the potential “real reason” for the conflict. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and the countries surrounding it have been a cushion between Russia and the rest of Europe. But in recent years, many of those countries have joined the EU except Ukraine. Russia is trying to control Ukraine from joining NATO. Frankly put, NATO could become a threat to Russia.

Anyway, let’s look at what the U.S. has to say. U.S. President Joe Biden has set in place economic sanctions, including expelling some Russian banks from SWIFT, the interbank messaging system. That could be a hard punch to Moscow, considering that right after the attack, the value of the Russian Ruble against the dollar fell drastically. With these new sanctions in place, the Russian economy could get even worse. And so far, no countries have directly acted in Ukraine’s defense, so the invasion continues. But why can’t other countries intervene?

As said before, Russia is formally acting in defense of those two republics. The current situation is unlike in 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, conducted under Saddam Huissen, a direct takeover. Putin is playing a tactical and carefully planned chess game. But since Putin didn’t technically do illegal actions, the United Nations and other member countries can’t declare war on Russia.

So is Russia doing as it says? Could Ukraine protect itself? And what would the price be for Russia? Today, we described only a simplified version of this longtime conflict between world powers. Things could get even more complicated in this ongoing, high-stakes chess game, and only time could tell of the outcome. That’s the end of this production, brought to you by the New News Newsminute. Thank you for reading, and be safe.