Russia and Ukraine's Conflicts

By 이서원

Following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity in 2014, Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula was occupied by unmarked Russian forces to be  annexed later by Russia, while pro-Russia separatists simultaneously engaged with the Ukrainian military in an armed conflict for control over eastern Ukraine. These events marked the beginning of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. After Russia declared war on Ukraine on February 24th 2022, conflicts between the countries have sparked up with both countries engaging in combat across several districts, mostly in the territory of Ukraine. While there are multiple variables to this conflict, it is seen that Ukraine and Russia’s difference in political and governmental status is one of the main reasons this war has broken out, and how it is currently progressing.

Russia’s government is a semi-presidential federation. After the downfall of the Soviet Union, the country has split into multiple states, each having some independence but all within the jurisdiction of the main government of Russia. Due to Russia being a collection of USSR-based countries, the main political status is communism, though it includes mixed aspects of democracy. Moreover, the political ideology of Russia is based on socialism, therefore enforcing the effect of communism on the country.

On the other hand, Ukraine’s government is a semi-presidential republic. Ukraine is also an outcome of the Soviet Union, where it separated off from the Russian jurisdiction and claimed independence in 1991. As the government type shows, Ukraine’s main political status is a democracy, with the citizens having power over the country’s government. However, there are still a few aspects of authoritarianism from the Soviet Union that remain to this day, such as regulation of the press. Ukraine’s political status is semi-libertarianism, which matches with the currently seen democracy in the nation.

With both countries’ political and governmental perspectives almost being polar opposites, it has given enough tension across the two nations to start a war. Also with Ukraine being an outcome of the Soviet Union, which is currently more similar to Russia, it has also given a stronger establishment of the conflict. Now, with the war going underway, the difference between the two  countries has become clearer and the values of both countries have been visible as well. 

When the war first broke out, Russia was the first to attack. Due to Russia's governmental status, the country had a vast military-based history and still to this day focuses on military power and enforcement. That is the reason why Russia had more leeway when deciding on the time and place to attack, and was very unexpected. On the other hand, although Ukraine had been a part of the past Soviet union, its governmental perspective shows that it has focused on civil jurisdiction and has not had much growth of the military like Russia did. Therefore, at the start of the war, Ukraine had suffered from substantial damages to the citizens, private and public property as well as the government and military. 

However, things started to turn over when Ukraine requested help from other alliances. With Russia's communist background, the alliances formed back when the Soviet Union was around had not been kept up to date and moreover, Russia had formed negative relationships with a lot of other countries. Therefore, the rest of the world had stronger bonds with Ukraine compared to Russia and new policies as well as material goods were used in order to help Ukraine and slow down Russia, with some of these being military equipment and others being sanctions against Russia. Also, due to Ukraine’s political status being focused on democracy, it further gained more support compared to Russia, which has a political status focused on authoritarianism.

Also, it has been predicted that although Russia may have stronger military power, it lacks public goods and efforts to make the quality of life better for the citizens. According to a survey, it has been suggested that Russia lacks cooperation from the citizens. Once Russia runs out of military power, it could possibly be an instant end to the country’s position over Ukraine. Also, because of Russia's oligarchical structure, a lot of corruption has happened within the government, all of which could add up to the low durability of Russia's current status.