Arenjungla Kichu
Mokokchung Times | February 24
The conflict escalating in Ukraine is one that has the potential of developing into a full blown war. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in his latest speech declared the two regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine as ‘Independent states’ and, therefore, claims the Russian troops there are for ‘peacekeeping missions’. The two regions, whose populaces are ethnically closer to Russia, have been embroiled in a long strife with the government in Kyiv over the question of their sovereignty or future with Russia with accusations being flung at each other from both sides. The Ukrainian Government has always maintained the rebel groups in these regions are Russian actors and Russian sympathizers while the local populace has accused the Ukrainian Government of high handedness and human rights abuses. This backdrop is, however, only one facet of a major regional geopolitical struggle going on between the West and Russia.
Pointedly speaking on the Donetsk and Luhansk issue alone, Russia actually does not have any right to declare sovereignty for any regions it does not have direct control over. In the same manner, ideally, Ukraine must also not suppress the aspirations of the people of Donetsk and Luhansk by force and should allow the people of the region to decide their own future. Ukraine has the power to diffuse the situation because the rest of the world, especially the West, recognize the government in Kyiv as the legitimate one to look into the concerns and wishes of the people in these regions.
But, the problem is not as simple as diffusing the situation in Donetsk and Luhansk. There are larger geopolitical factors at play here. On the Russian side, the ever broadening borders of NATO are of major concern. Russia ideally wants all the former Soviet states (turned independent countries now) to act neutral and as buffer states between Russia and NATO. But, as more and more of these countries start joining the NATO alliance, NATO’s borders are slowly creeping up to Russian borders and in fact, with Ukraine mulling joining the alliance, will very soon be right next door to it. Putin does not want this and thus, delegitimizing Ukraine in his speech by calling it as a ‘puppet state of the US’ is his attempt to imply indirectly that the wishes of the Ukrainian people to join NATO actually carries no weight. Putin is all too wary of the imperialist expansion of the US in the form of NATO.
The leaders of the West, on the other hand, feel that the former Soviet states have every right to do what they feel is good for their own countries. They can join NATO or any other alliances they want as they each have rights as sovereign countries. They must not be dictated by other larger or smaller countries what they should or should not do. The West also fears that Putin has ambitions of taking over all the former Soviet states back into Russia, and that letting Putin get away with Donetsk and Luhansk will further embolden him to assert over other territories in the future.
As in every conflict, both sides have deep mutual distrust of each other and this can only be resolved by addressing these issues fairly and openly. Both sides have legitimate arguments if the hyperbolic propaganda is stripped away. Calling Ukraine an illegitimate state is hyperbolic on the Russian side. The former Soviet state has every right to join any alliances by exercising its rights as a sovereign state. In fact, Russia actually does not have a problem with NATO per se. NATO is a problem only because the US is a part of that alliance. And it is perfectly understandable the fear and suffocation Putin is reeling under as the wings of US imperialism slowly but surely creeps up to its borders. And addressing this fear is the major need of the hour.
Comparing Putin to Hitler on the West’s side is hyperbolic too. Putin might have daydreams about putting all the former Soviet states back into Russia but he is pragmatic enough to know that it is impossible now. He neither has world domination plans nor has racist propaganda as Hitler either. Instead of delving in such insane rhetoric, the West should actually take steps to address Russian fears and concerns. Negotiating on the table between the US and Russia and making concessions by both sides is the only way forward. The US should stop arming neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine, for example. It should concede to what it can do or more precisely, not do, in NATO member countries near Russia and put Russian fears at ease. Russia, on the other hand, should allow the Ukrainian government to join NATO if it wants to as well as give the Kyiv government a chance to redeem itself before the people of Donetsk and Luhansk. All such issues need to be tackled in an open handed manner and the resulting resolutions adhered to by both sides with mutual respect.
The last thing the West, as self-professed champions of Human Rights, should ever consider is a massive sanction on Russia that hurts the innocent civilians living there. Sanctions just add more problems and are never solutions in the long run. The West should act pragmatically and should avoid by all means another Afghanistan like situation where nearly a million people including children are starving because of frozen assets. Maybe, the US selling gas to Germany making the newly constructed gas pipeline from Russia to Germany obsolete is about the furthest that sanctions, if considered, should go. Anything beyond that would result in innocent civilians suffering for no fault of theirs. Diplomacy and open dialogue based on mutual trust is the only real answer to solving this problem in the end.