Analysis of Russia-Ukraine relations in context of Crimea problem

Year 2015, Volume: 1 Issue: 3, 656 - 670, 01.07.2015

A. Sait Sönmez , Harun Bıçakçı , Cuma Yıldırım

https://doi.org/10.24289/ijsser.279144

Cited By: 7

Abstract

Ukraine and Russia, the two Slavic societies, are two different nations even if they have common historical past and cultural ties. In the post-Cold War period, Russian and Ukrainian relations progressed in a problematic way. The strategic importance of Ukraine has increased more with the introduction of the transfer of energy sources in the former Soviet Union to the West. Ukraine as a country in the role of an energy corridor has become more important for Russia together with the increased role of the energy sector in the Russian economy. Ukraine as a country which is not rich in terms of natural gas and oil resources is a dependent country to Russia in this field. Therefore, an interdependence between the two countries has occurred due to Russia's energy resources and the location of Ukraine as a transit country. Ukraine has a privileged status compared to other republics in the era of Soviet Union. One of the republics in the UN General Assembly representing the USSR which has the Soviet nuclear industry is Ukraine. Moreover, Minsk summit where the decision of the disintegration of the Soviet Union was taken was held by the leaders of the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine.

As the Russia-USA competition deepens, the importance of Ukraine for the Western powers will increase. The Russian-American competition which is becoming very evident in Syria after the invasion of Crimea is the messenger of these possibilities. In such a case, the Western powers will see Ukraine as outpost or front country. This is because today the new frontier of Eastern and Western passes through the Ukraine-Georgia line. In this case, Ukraine will be supported by the economic and financial help of the West. All this is a case about the commitment of Russia to compete with Westerners. However, it is possible that Ukraine will encounter many problems in the internal politics and to enter the domain of Russia in the event that exhibit a stable attitude against Russia as in the example of Georgia. Russia has shown the cost of following a Western-axis foreign policy to the other former Soviet republics by invading Crimea. The issues appearing the East of Ukraine give the hints about the methods which Moscow will use afterwards. The invasion has increased further the opposition towards Russia in the Ukraine society. Georgia which was invaded by Russia begore and Azerbaijan which lost Karabakh due to the support provided to the Armenian society by Russia did not shift to a pro-Russian line as Moscow expected. On the contrary, perhaps Russia seems to have won Abkhazia, Ossetia and Crimea but lost Georgia and Ukraine. However, the Ukraine crisis was deepened by the invasion of Crimea, it is now a complex issue with global, regional and local reasons and results.  Russia used to economy and energy issues in order to keep Ukraine under control. On 27 February 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea peninsula by using military force and did not refrain from the explicit violation of sovereignty. This case did not only affect the Russia-Ukraine relationship but also caused the biggest and the most serious crisis between Russia and the West. After the invasion of Crimea by Russia, Crimea went to referendum on 16 March 2014 about the future of the regions of the Autonomous Republic and Crimea joined Russia based on the results of the referendum. With the result of this referendum, the Russian Federation declared that Crimea is a part of the country. Although the Western Block considered this situation illegal, Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol federal cities joined the Russian Federation. Together with this, Donetsk and Lugansk regions with a higher Russian population in the eastern region of Ukraine also declared their independence from Ukraine and as a result of this, a civil war started in the country as a result of intervention of Kiev administration in this area. According to the EU data, more than 4 thousand people died during these incidents. The reasons behind this are the Russian-American competition, the maintained the struggle for dominance in the Eurasian geography, unstable political structure of Ukraine and the Russia-Ukraine relations can be referred to as the reasons of the crisis. One of the issues that negatively affects the Russia-Ukraine relations is the Western government outside the Ukraine foreign policy. This policy gained speed after the Orange Revolution in particular, mainly the Western foreign policy was started to be followed in the Yushchenko era. However, it should be pointed out that the pro-Western policies were followed during the periods of the leaders such as Kraucuk and Kuchma. These leaders were following a balance policy by taking into account the sensitive issues for Russia. On the other hand, despite the pro-Russians in the Ukrainian society, a European dependency has emerged in the country during the period after the independence.  In this study Ukraine crisis will be analyzed in the context of political structure of Ukraine and Russia-Ukraine relations in accordance with the abovementioned reasons

Keywords

Invasion of Crimea, Russia-Ukraine relations, Ukraine’s foreign policy, Political rivalry in Eurasia

Kırım sorunu bağlamında Rusya-Ukrayna ilişkilerinin analizi

Abstract

Özet: Ruslar ve Ukraynalılar Slav ırkına mensup ortak tarihsel geçmişleri ve kültürel bağları olan iki farklı millettir. Sovyet sonrası dönemde Rusya Ukrayna ilişkileri sorunlu bir şekilde devam etmiştir. Ukrayna kazandığı bağımsızlığı pekiştirmek isterken, Rusya ise Sovyet coğrafyasını kendi kontrolünde tutmak istemektedir. Her iki ülkenin dış politikasındaki bu farklılıklar ikili ilişkilerde bazı krizlerin yaşanmasına neden olmuştur. Ancak şu noktanın belirtilmesi gerekir ki, Kırımın işgaliyle derinleşen Ukrayna krizi küresel, bölgesel ve yerel nedenleri ve sonuçları olan karmaşık bir sorundur. Zira krizin nedenleri arasında Rus Amerikan rekabeti, Avrasya coğrafyasında sürdürülen hâkimiyet mücadelesi ve Ukrayna’nın istikrarsız siyasal yapısı ve Rusya Ukrayna ilişkileri gibi faktörlerden söz edilebilir. Çalışma, Ukrayna krizi, Ukrayna’nın siyasi yapısı, Rusya Ukrayna ilişkileri ekseninde analiz edilecektir.

 

Anahtar Kelimeler: Kırımın işgali, Rusya Ukrayna İlişkileri, Ukrayna dış politikası, Avrasya’da siyasi rekabet

Keywords

Kırımın işgali, Rusya-Ukrayna İlişkileri, Ukrayna dış politikası, Avrasya’da siyasi rekabet