A Short History of the Ukraine Crisis

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Contents

Introduction

Formation of Kyivan Rus

The Arrival of Christianity

The Mongols

Kyiv Annexed by Lithuania

The First Mention of Cossacks

The Union of Lublin

Creation of the Uniate

Khmelnytsky Uprising

Treaty of Pereiaslav

The Battle of Poltava

Galicia in Habsburg Empire

The Russian Empire Annexes Crimea

The Revolution

Ukrainian People's Republic

Nazi Occupation of Ukraine

Ukraine Gets Crimea

The Soviet Union Collapses

Russia-Ukraine Treaties

The Gas War

Russia Annexes Crimea

Ceasefire - No Ceasefire

Here We Go, Again

The War

The Geopolitics Behind the War

European View

Russian View

Introduction

On 24 February (2022), Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine. This was not the first time we heard of Russia-Ukraine conflict. In fact, it is one of those archetypal news stories - along with Palestine, Kashmir, etc. - that never seem to fade. Therefore, in order to understand this tremendously complicated issue, we must proceed carefully and start with history. At the same time, we must look at Ukraine in a broader context as the political boundaries as well as ideologies have been on shaky grounds. Which is what this book aims to do. It offers you a broad picture of the crisis so that you can trace its historical roots and understand it better.

Formation of Kyivan Rus

Year 880: This is where the story of modern-day Russia and Ukraine begins. Kyivan (Kievan) Rus (862-1242) was a medieval political federation located in modern-day Belarus, Ukraine, and part of Russia (the latter named for the Rus, a Scandinavian people). The name Kievan Rus is a modern-day (19th century) designation but has the same meaning as 'land of the Rus,' which is how the region was known in the Middle Ages.

A map of europe with different colored areasFigure 1: Image Source - Wikipedia

The story of the arrival of the Rus in the East is first told in the Primary Chronicle (also known as the Tale of Bygone Years, c. 12th century) of Russia. This work relates how the people of the land invited the Rus (identified as Scandinavian Vikings) to rule and maintain order in their country in the mid-9th century CE. Three brothers, including one named Rurik, accepted the invitation and founded the Rurik Dynasty which would last for over 700 years.

The Arrival of Christianity

988: Vladimir I, also known as Saint Vladimir of Kyiv, wanted to unite the people under one umbrella, and... is there any better tool than religion? So, around 988 he sent envoys to examine the major religions. The options? Islam, Judaism, the Catholic Christianity of Western Europe, and the Orthodox Christianity of Eastern Europe.

The story of Vladimir's choosing Orthodox Christianity is part legend, part fact. According to the tradition, Vladimir didn't like the dietary restrictions of Islam and Judaism. Catholic Christianity was all right, but what impressed the grand prince was the dazzling worship his ambassadors described seeing in the great Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. That was that.

The Mongols

1240: There is a rule in international warfare: you cannot invade Russia in winters. But, like most other rules in history, this one too didn't apply to the Mongols. They invaded and conquered Kyivan Rus' in the 13th century, destroying numerous cities, including Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir and Kyiv.

Perhaps a decision by the Russian princes to make peace could have averted this. However, that was not the case and for their miscalculations, Russia would be forever changed in terms of its religion, art, language, government, and political geography.

The distress was just as political and economic in nature as it was social and spiritual. The Mongol forces claimed that they were sent by God, and the Russians believed that the Mongols were indeed sent by God as a punishment for their sins. The Orthodox Church would become a powerful beacon during the ''darker'' years of the Mongol subjugation. The Russian people would eventually turn inward, seeking solace in their faith and looking to the Orthodox Church for guidance and support. The shock of being conquered by this steppe people would plant the seeds of Russian monasticism.

Kyiv Annexed by Lithuania

1362: As Genghis Khan once said, ''Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard." By mid-fourteenth century the Mongol Empire had broken up into several ''Hordes'' who ruled independently of one another.

In the middle of the 13th century, the vast steppes of Eastern Europe and Central Asia were settled by the Mongols Tatars, comers from the East. They established the Golden Horde, the state which was posing a constant threat to neighbouring countries. The Russian principalities were ruled by Golden Horde who fought against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Battle of Blue Waters. The Lithuanians won a decisive victory and finalised their conquest of the Principality of Kyiv.

After the battle, the Great Duchy of Lithuania became the largest state in Europe. It extended its influence on Russian duchies and withdrew the threat of invasions from the Mongols Tatars' side to Central Europe moving the field of battles with the Golden Horde further to the East.

The First Mention of Cossacks

1492: This was also the year when Columbus ''discovered'' America but we will come to that some other time. Ukrainian Cossacks find their first mention in history in 1492. The word ''Cossack'' meant ''independent person'' in Turkic languages.

Cossacks came from a variety of nationalities and social groups. Their ancestors came from Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, and Tatar territories, and migrated at great risk to the southern steppes to hunt, fish, gather honey, and make handicraft goods.

By the mid-sixteenth century they had developed a military organisation of a peculiarly democratic kind, with a general assembly (rada) as the supreme authority and elected officers, including the commander in chief, or hetman.

The Union of Lublin

1569: Each union is a process of two communities approaching each other having decided, at a certain moment and for various reasons, to merge into one state. Such was the case of the Union of Lublin. It was an international agreement signed in 1569 between Poland and Lithuania which united the two states into one commonwealth. It brought about the formal creation of a state called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which existed well over two centuries, until it was partitioned by Prussia, Russia and Austria in 1795.

This was the longest-lasting union of states in European history - it lasted, for example, over a century longer than the Kalmar union of the Scandinavian states (1397-1523).

Creation of the Uniate

1596: With the propagation of Renaissance and Reformation in the Belarusian lands in the 16th century, long-lasting religious tolerance existed in that state until the end of the 16th century. Then the counter-Reformation followed, directed against both Protestant and Orthodox believers. It resulted in the signing of the Brest Church Union, which recognised supremacy of the Pope of Rome and Catholic doctrines at the Orthodox Church of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with its ceremonial rites remaining intact.

The Union of Brest (1596), which united the Roman Catholic Church with the part of the Orthodox Church that was within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, was viewed favourably by both the Polish king, Sigismund III, and a number of Orthodox bishops, clergy, and faithful. The new Uniate Church acknowledged the supremacy of the Roman Catholic pope and accepted articles of Roman Catholic religious doctrine.

In return, the Uniate Church retained its traditional Orthodox rites and customs as well as a measure of autonomy in nondoctrinal matters; it was also given the same rights and privileges as the Roman Catholic Church. However, fear of the new church's becoming Latinised and Polonised caused many of the Orthodox faithful to reject the union, and the Orthodox Church continued to exist alongside the Uniate Church in an often bitter struggle.

Khmelnytsky Uprising

1648: It was a Cossack rebellion against the Polish rule. The uprising in the Ukrainian territories against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth began in early 1648 under the leadership of Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1595-1657), a Cossack officer proclaimed hetman. The rebels destroyed the Polish standing army, and the confusion and dissension following the death of the king in May 1648 gave them the advantage.

Within a few months almost all Polish nobles, officials and priests had been wiped out or driven from the lands of present-day Ukraine. This led to the eventual incorporation of eastern Ukraine into the Tsardom of Russia in 1654.

Treaty of Pereiaslav

1654: One of the strongest links in the toxic chain of events that has bound Ukraine's fate to that of Russia was forged in this year. The Treaty of Pereyaslav was designed to save Ukraine from Polish domination.

It did so, but it also made Ukraine a Russian vassal for centuries. If not for this treaty, Ukraine might have been an entirely different country. Ukrainians could now be speaking little or no Russian, have another religion, and culturally as well as economically be less dependent on modern Russia.

The Treaty of Pereyaslav, struck between Russia and central Ukraine's rulers of that time, the Zaporizhian Cossacks, was interpreted by the Ukrainian side as a temporary alliance, required to shake off the Polish yoke, and necessary due to the Ottoman Empire's failure to provide the promised military support.

Understandably then, the Ukrainian nationalists see it as a sad occasion, while the pro-Russian parties celebrate it.

The Battle of Poltava

1709: The Russian army under the command of Tsar Peter I defeated a Swedish army, under the command of Carl Gustaf Rehnskiold. The battle put an end to the status of the Swedish Empire as a European great power, as well as its eastbound expansion, and marked the beginning of Russian supremacy in Northern Europe, which continues till today.

Voltaire spoke out that the Poltava victory was the only battle in the whole history, the result of which was not destruction, but the happiness of mankind, for it provided Tsar Peter I with the necessary space to go further along the path of transformation.

Galicia in Habsburg Empire

1772: The era of Austrian Habsburg rule in Galicia and Bukovina that lasted from l772 to 1918 represents one of the few instances of direct and long-term interaction between the Germanic world and territories inhabited by Ukrainians.

Whether subsequent writers describe the Habsburg presence in western-Ukrainian lands in an impartial manner as the "Austrian era" or in negative terms as the Austrian Habsburg "occupation," there is no denying that the new imperial government in Vienna created in Galicia and Bukovina a civil society governed by the rule of law in which, at least by the second half of the nineteenth century, an increasing number of Ukrainians came to play an active role in the local and provincial administration.

As a result, it was not long before a significant percentage of the articulate elements in western-Ukrainian society, and perhaps even a larger proportion of the peasant masses, accepted Habsburg rule and considered Austria to be their legitimate homeland.

The Russian Empire Annexes Crimea

1783: Crimea became a part of Russia from 1783, when the Tsarist Empire annexed it a decade after defeating Ottoman forces in the Battle of Kozludzha.

Russians were continually meddling in Crimea destabilizing their government. Catherine II encouraged revolt against the Khan and installed a puppet government faithful to her. When the annexation took place, Tartars raised their voice in protest. She insisted that she was saving them from misgovernment.

Crimea remained with Russia until 1954, when the Soviet government transferred Crimea from the Russian Soviet Federation of Socialist Republics (RSFSR) to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkrSSR).

The Revolution

1917: The year was the climax of a revolution we have always called Russian, but was so much more.

Indeed, virtually from day one, the revolutions in Petrograd and Kyiv began to diverge from each other, but other national liberation movements took advantage of the Ukrainian movement's advocacy for a federalist and democratic Russian republic and often worked in solidarity with the Ukrainian movement, above all the Jewish socialist parties in Ukraine, the United Zionist Labor Party, and the Poalei Tsion.

In Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, power fell to the Central Council, or Rada, which had since the summer pressed for Ukrainian autonomy within the Russian state. Its membership was elected in April 1917 by the constituent All-Ukrainian National Congress.

Ukrainian People's Republic

1918-20: Ukraine proclaimed its independence from the Russian Republic on 25 January 1918.

During its short existence, the republic went through several political transformations - from the socialist-leaning republic headed by the Central Council with its general secretariat to the socialist republic led by the Directorate and by Symon Petliura. Soon after de-occupation of Ukraine from Bolshevik Russia between April and December 1918, the socialist authority of Ukrainian People's Republic suspended, having been overthrown by the pro-German Ukrainian State of Pavlo Skoropadsky, who was elected as a Hetman by the congress of peasants.

However, in 1920, the Bolsheviks established control over eastern Ukraine. Two years later, what had now become the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic joined the Soviet union. Did they have any other choice? It's a rhetorical question, don't worry.

Nazi Occupation of Ukraine

1941-44: Initially, the Germans were greeted as liberators by some of the Ukrainian populace. In Galicia especially, there had long been a widespread belief that Germany, as the avowed enemy of Poland and the U.S.S.R., was the Ukrainians' natural ally for the attainment of their independence.

Far from being frightened by the arrival of the Nazis, people welcomed them. Suddenly, Ukrainians could see a different way of life. They saw they could go to dances and have different clothes and that there was free communication between people.

The illusion was quickly shattered which we all are aware of. Moreover, the war also meant the end of Nazi rule. This meant, it was time to turn to Russia, once again.

Ukraine Gets Crimea

1954: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave Ukraine a gift: Crimea. At the time, it seemed like a routine move, but six decades later, that gift is having consequences for both countries.

It wasn't just a gift.

Ukraine's great famine, or Holodomor, was created by Joseph Stalin, Khrushchev's predecessor; millions died. Stalin died in 1953, and when Khrushchev took over, ''the idea was that they really needed to democratize the system, to centralize it less," says Nina Khrushcheva, Khruschev's great-granddaughter.

Besides, much like the imperialist Britain, the Soviet leadership was also fond of merging incompatible regions together to facilitate the divide within, which would make them return to the Communist rule.

The Soviet Union Collapses

1991: The Soviet Empire collapsed that year. The population of Ukraine voted overwhelmingly for independence in the referendum of December 1, 1991.

In an election coinciding with the referendum, Kravchuk was chosen as president. By this time, several important developments had taken place in Ukraine, including the dissolution of the Communist Party and the development (under the newly appointed Minister of Defense Kostiantyn Morozov) of the infrastructure for separate Ukrainian armed forces.

At that time, Ukraine had the second-largest population and economy of the fifteen Soviet republics. There was a lot of optimism about the fate of the country.

Russia-Ukraine Treaties

1997: Russia and Ukraine had some tensions right from the beginning, when the empire collapsed. In order to calm those tensions, Moscow and Kyiv signed the bilateral Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in 1997. Under Article 2, the neighbours agreed to "respect each other's territorial integrity, and confirm the inviolability of the borders existing between them."

The Friendship Treaty also ensured "the protection of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious originality of national minorities on their territory" and the creation of "conditions for the encouragement of that originality." Although not stated explicitly, this passage presumably referred to the large Russian minority in Ukraine as well as Ukrainian communities in Russia.

The Gas War

2004-09: Russia and Ukraine clashed over gas prices following the 2004 pro-Western ''Orange Revolution'' which swept President Viktor Yushchenko to power.

In 2007 Ukraine's parliament passed a law banning the privatisation, sale or lease of gas pipelines, after Russia suggested creating a joint venture to run the system.

Russia accused Ukraine of corruption and stealing gas meant for Europe, and on January 7, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered a halt in gas transit via Ukraine as well, saying it was pointless pumping the gas if it was being stolen by Ukraine.

Russia Annexes Crimea

2014: In November 2013, Viktor Yanukovych, Ukraine's pro-Russian president, rejected closer ties with the European Union by refusing to sign an association agreement on the eve of a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. By early 2014, Yanukovych had fled and the capital had fallen into the hands of various pro-European opposition parties. The focus turned to Crimea, a peninsula in the south of the country home to an ethnic Russian majority, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet was headquartered.

Putin dispatched his army to Ukraine's borders for an unexpected military exercise, and fighter jets along Russia's western borders were put on high alert. Then on Thursday Feb. 27, gunmen with no insignia on their uniforms seized government buildings in Crimea, and then took control of two Crimean airports the day after. Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine violated a number of agreements, but... when has that mattered?

Ceasefire - No Ceasefire

2015-19: As fighting continues, Russia repeatedly strikes at Ukraine in a series of cyber attacks, including a 2016 attack on Kyiv's power grid that causes a major blackout. All this despite the fact that Russia and Ukraine had signed two agreements in Minsk in 2014 as well as 2015.

What were the Minsk agreements?

Minsk I was a ceasefire deal signed between Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists in the Belarusian capital in September 2014. The agreement quickly broke down, with violations by both sides.

Minsk II witnessed a broader representation. Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the leaders of two pro-Russian separatist regions signed this 13-point agreement in February 2015. The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, gathered in Minsk at the same time, issued a declaration of support for the deal. This too did not last.

Here We Go, Again

2021:Russia sent about 100,000 troops to Ukraine's borders, ostensibly for military exercises. President Zelenskyy urged NATO leadership to put Ukraine on a timeline for its membership.

Russia, on the other hand, asked NATO to permanently bar Ukraine from membership and to withdraw forces stationed in countries that joined the alliance after 1997, including the Balkans and Romania.

The confusion continued. Both sides, as well as NATO, played the waiting game.

The War

24 February 2022: Russia has begun a large-scale military attack on Ukraine, its southern neighbour, on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The BBC reported:

In a televised speech at 05:55 Moscow time (02:55 GMT), Mr Putin announced a "military operation" in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. This area is home to many Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Parts of it has been occupied and run by Russian-backed rebels since 2014.

Mr Putin said Russia was intervening as an act of self-defence. Russia did not want to occupy Ukraine, he said, but would demilitarise and "de-Nazify" the country.

He urged Ukrainian soldiers in the combat zone to lay down their weapons and go home, but said clashes were inevitable and "only a question of time".

And he added that any intervention from outside powers to resist the Russian attack would be met with an "instant" response.

The Geopolitics Behind the War

In geopolitics major conflicts repeat themselves. France and Germany, for example, fought multiple wars, as did Poland and Russia, or India and Pakistan. When a single war does not resolve an underlying geopolitical issue, the successive conflicts are quite inevitable. Coming to Russia, the country has clashed with the rest of Europe on multiple occasions. The Napoleonic Wars, the two World Wars and the Cold War all dealt at least in part with the status of Russia and its relationship with the rest of the Europe.

The question then becomes: if Russia is a united nation-state, where will its frontiers lie and what will be the relationship between Russia and its neighbours?

This is the Russian Question. Unfortunately, none of the above mentioned wars have been able to settle this. Which means, there will be more, including the one we are seeing right now in Ukraine. To make matters clearer, let's try to see the two sides of this conflict: Europe and Russia.

European View

The very existence of a united Russia (in one form or the other) poses a threat to Europe. Russia is a vast region with a significant population. It is much poorer than the rest of Europe, but it has two assets: land and natural resources. As such it is a constant temptation to the European powers which see an opportunity to increase their size and wealth to the east. Interestingly, Russia sees the same opportunity in the west, and hence the fear.

The other problem that Europe faces is the one recently created by Russia. Because of its limited infrastructure and technology, Russia relies heavily on the oil and gas exports to build its economy. This has created Europe's energy dependency on Russia. Therefore, on the one hand, Europe would like to expand its influence in the east (through NATO and EU), it cannot afford to have a major crisis in Russia. This puts additional pressure on the European powers while dealing with Russian misadventures.

Russian View

To answer this question we have to understand where Russia's vulnerabilities lie. Even when Ukraine is controlled by Russia, as it has been for centuries, and Belarus and Moldova are a part of the Russian empire as well, there are still no natural borders in the north ... On the northern European plane, no matter where Russia's borders are drawn, it is open to attack.

The question then becomes: how does Russia respond to its fears?

Russia turns to its strengths. The only physical advantage Russia can have in this situation is geographical depth. The farther west into Europe its borders extend, the farther conquerors have to travel to reach Moscow. Therefore, Russia is always pressing westward on the northern European plane, as Europe is always pressing eastward.

It's inevitable that a geographically-insecure Russia would look to strengthen its military. Then it would need buffer zones to protect itself from the rest of the world. And then, buffer zones for the buffer zones. Russia's grand strategy would involve the creation of deep-buffers along the northern-European plane while it divides and manipulates its neighbours. This would create a new regional balance of power in Europe. What Russia cannot tolerate are tight borders without buffer zones and its neighbours united against it. This is why Russia's future (even present) actions might appear to be aggressive but are actually defensive.

And, whether we like it or not, this will go on - at least for now.

Thank you for reading!