With the Kievian protests finally fruiting into the ousting of President Victor Yanukovych and the announcement of the interim PM Arseny Yatseniuk that Ukraine will join the EU and forsake the Russian camp, military tension has gripped the country, especially in Crimea. On Saturday Russian forces officially entered Crimea:
News Report
[su_quote cite=”The Daily Beast” url=”http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/01/so-russia-invaded-crimea.html”]Moscow just dispatched both conventional military and paramilitary forces to seize control of Crimea’s airspace, its ports, its highways, its television stations, and its regional government.[/su_quote]
[su_quote cite=”Euro News” url=”http://www.euronews.com/2014/03/01/ukraine-s-acting-president-demands-russia-stops-provocations-in-crimea/”]Ukraine’s acting president Oleksandr Turchynov has urged Russia to stop “provocations” in Crimea and to pull back military forces.[/su_quote]
First there was news of minor unrest in the region, then out of nowhere all hell breaks loose. Ukraine, a nation that holds great strategic and geopolitical importance is now in a state of turmoil. The reasons are somewhat similar to those in the Arab world but here the stakes are much higher since Ukraine lies in the middle of two mega military power spheres.
Massive public protests paved the way for the overthrow of the government, the “nationalists” quickly took power and soon a country which was seen as pro-Russian instantly turned sides towards being more pro-Western. The world saw glimpses of yet another conflict between United States and Russia. But the cold war was over! or has it ever been?
On Sunday, Arseniy Yatseniuk said that Ukraine has called up its military reserves to resist Russian “provocations”:
[su_quote cite=”The Guardian” url=”http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/02/ukraine-russia-war-crimea-nato”]Hundreds of Russian troops were surrounding a Ukrainian base just outside the Crimean capital, Simferopol, in the latest military manoeuvre on the peninsula indicative of a move by Moscow to annex, in all but name, the Black Sea peninsula. [/su_quote]
[su_quote cite=”RT” url=”http://rt.com/news/ukraine-military-russia-resign-437/”]”The entire Ukrainian armed forces stationed on the Crimean territory have been blocked,” Interfax reported him as saying. “The self-defense forces have taken control of the landing strips of all the Crimean airports and airfields.” Earlier, Ukrainian troops in Crimea were said to be resigning on a massive scale. Living quarters, weapons and ammunition have all been left under the protection of the so-called ‘self-defense forces.’ [/su_quote]
It should be noted here that the region of Crimea holds great significance since it hosts an important Russian military base and a major access route to the Black Sea, which is why Russia had no option but to defend its interests, the United States was quick to react and it threatened Russia with sanctions. All of a sudden the whole world was on high alert, the likes of which were witnessed during the events of Cuban Missile Crisis. All the tactics and counter tactics being applied by the major powers closely resembles those observed during the 1980’s.
The War of Words pursued:
[su_quote cite=”CNN” url=”http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/02/world/europe/ukraine-politics/”]The interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said, ‘i appeal personally to president Putin to immediately stop provoking us, call out troops from Crimea and cooperate by sticking to agreements already signed between us’. ‘We are on the brink of the disaster’, he said.[/su_quote]
[su_quote cite=”BBC” url=”http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26367786″]Crimea, like most of the eastern provinces, has majority of ethnic Russians, making the east highly pro-Russia. Ethnic Ukrainians make up 24% of the population in Crimea according to the 2001 census, compared with 58% Russians and 12% Tatars. [/su_quote]
[su_quote cite=”The Guardian” url=”http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/06/ukraine-crisis-crimea-part-of-russia-local-parliament-declares”]And yesterday, the 6th of March saw the announcement of Crimea’s local parliament that ‘they consider the territory to be part of Russia’, and a referendum for this purpose will be held on the 16th of March. [/su_quote]
So Crimea is joining Russia, but is that all of Ukraine that will fall into the laps of Russia or is Russia preparing for more, as ‘the Duma has already begun work on a bill that would make it easier for new territories to join Russia’.
