Opinion: Putin Believes It's His Responsibility to Take Back Ukraine

In March of 2014, battalions of troops, with no flags or emblems, marched into Ukraine’s Crimea. While these troops had no flags on their shoulders or markings on their vehicles, who was behind the attack was apparent to all. Russia. The so-called “Little Green Men” marched into the Crimea and took that small portion of Ukraine for Russia. In response, the West imposed economic sanctions on Russia. Fast forward to 2022, it seems like Putin is ready to send in troops not only to take a small portion of Ukraine as he did in 2014 but instead take the whole country for the Russian people.

However, why does he want Ukraine? Many speculate it’s economics. It has been seen in history that Ukraine is full of oil, which was once the property of the Soviet Union, something Putin may want again. Another widely speculated reason is military purposes. Ukraine has access to the Black Sea, and warm water ports would be precious to Russia, which has mostly only cold water naval ports. However, while all of these may be plausible, Putin’s true intentions for invading Ukraine are cultural, evidence being in his speeches and writings on Ukraine. To understand his motives, one needs to know a little about the history of Russia and Ukraine’s relationship.

The Russian people originated in the Kyivan Rus region in modern-day Ukraine. From here, the Ukrainian and Russian people grew up side by side. Ukraine was in the Russian Empire and joined the Soviet Union along with Russia after the October Revolution, the revolution which overthrew the Russian Empire and ushered in the Soviet Union in 1917. While the Soviet Union is seen as one big country, in reality, it is a confederation of sister Soviet Socialist Republics, something both Ukraine and Russia were. When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the sister republics of the USSR broke up into different independent nations. As a result, after being entwined for centuries, Russia and Ukraine suddenly separated.

This separation, according to Putin, was a horrible catastrophe, even stating in his 2005 State of the Union speech that “the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century.” He believes that the people of all the other Soviet Socialist Republics are really the people of Russia. He stated, “Tens of millions of our co-citizens and compatriots found themselves outside Russian territory.” His main goal of the Ukrainian invasion is to unite “the Russian People.” Ukraine housing the Kyivan Rus, the origin region of the Russian people, is the key reason Putin hopes to invade Ukraine

Additionally, Putin’s reasons for invading Ukraine were stated in his article “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians.” Here he openly wrote about his motives for annexing Ukraine. Putin believes that the Ukrainian people and the Russian people are “essentially the same historic and spiritual space.” The article outlines his belief that outer influences, the main one being the West, are breaking the ties of the Russian and the Ukrainian people to divide them and conquer. Putin believes that it's his responsibility to reunite the Russian people. Ukraine’s increased attraction to joining NATO and the EU is seen to Putin as Ukraine faltering to the outside influence of the West, corroding the ties between the people of Russia and Ukraine.

What can the Western powers do to stop Putin? Sanctions are the most logical answer, but it may not stop Putin here. Putin's goal is to unite the Russian people, and it is unlikely that he is willing to back down due to sanctions. China also may be able to fill the economic gap left by the Western Powers, as China is already Russia’s number one trading partner. Additionally, extreme sanctions are most likely to be placed solely by the U.S, as the countries in Europe rely on Russia for a large amount of natural resources. Russia currently provides 26% of the EU’s oil imports and 40% of the EU’s gas imports. This would severely cripple the E.U in the short term. It is unlikely they would risk poisoning this trade relationship, as gas and energy prices fluctuate according to the volume of trade and render all the funds spent building oil lines to Russia a pointless investment.

If the Western Powers choose to send troops, this will be a risky maneuver. Ukraine has no official treaty with the U.S. or NATO, so sending troops would violate international law and be seen by the Russian government as an escalation. The U.S. has only the Bilateral Defense Consultations, which only allows the U.S. to provide equipment to Ukraine. This is why Russia only accused the U.S. of escalation after putting 8,500 troops on high alert, even if they were sending military equipment to Ukraine for weeks prior. The Western allies would need to form a status of forces agreement to allow troops to enter Ukraine in a way that would abide by international law. This would take time, something which the West seems to be running out of. Furthermore, not supporting Ukraine would be appeasing Putin and empower him to unite other “Russian Nations.” As seen in the second World War, appeasement is not a viable option and is doomed to fail, as Putin will set his sights on other countries he believes are “Russian.”

Something must be done to resolve the conflict. Standing by and doing nothing is not an option. Bringing it to a close will not be straightforward due to the conflicting ideas of the West and East. A compromise must be achieved between both sides, but it will take time. Both sides have to meet in the middle. Unfortunately, as argued in the Mirror's previous op-ed on the subject, this does leave the Ukrainian people waiting in a ticking time bomb situation. A bomb that, if not diffused, will explode with devastating consequences, consequences that would kill thousands and displace millions of people.