Russian Political Aspects of Invading Ukraine

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The conflict of Ukraine and Russia has not started nowadays. Its roots go back to 1991 when the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact (which was a collective defense treaty established by the Soviet Union and other Soviet satellite states in Eastern and Central Europe) collapsed and disappeared. After 30 years Ukraine crossed “Russia’s red line”.

NATO and Russia had an agreement that NATO will not expand toward Russia’s territory

Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary were about to join the NATO, which caused a kind of concern to the Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, but he admitted that every country has the rights to take a position in an alliance it considers to be a better choice. Yeltsin also made a reference to the Two Plus Four Treaty pertaining to Germany’s reunification in 1990. “The spirit of the treaty,” he wrote, “precludes the option of expanding the NATO zone into the East.” [1]

After Yeltsin sent his letter, NATO has accepted 14 countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe to join the alliance. Vladimir Putin complained: “You cheated us shamelessly”. [1]

MK 41 Rockets in Romania and Poland

To escalate the situation, NATO has deployed MK 41 missile shields in Romania and Poland what felt a serious threat to Russia’s security. Putin declared his warning over the missile shields, saying that Moscow had stated repeatedly that it would take retaliatory steps. Washington ignored the warnings. [2]

“We won’t take any action until we see rockets in areas that neighbor us.” – Putin added. He also thought about what would happen if Ukraine joined the NATO: does Russia want to protect the island of Crimea? Or would Russia have the right to oppose the deployment of rockets along the boundary? It would surely be dangerous because the problem could escalate between Russia and the NATO: MK 41 means real military threat to Russia, because Tomahawk rockets are capable of reaching Moscow.