From February 24 this year, Russia announced a "special military operation" against Ukraine. It has been nearly 8 months until today. The scale of the war is getting bigger and bigger. The Ukrainian army has taken action against the Crimean Peninsula Bridge, and then Russia bombed most of the civil infrastructure in Ukraine! For a moment, both sides seemed to have reached the brink of nuclear war against . No one can see how this war ended in the end, and no one can see clearly, and the two sides are strangling to death increasingly fiercely. Now it seems that they have reached the point where there is no room for negotiation or space for both sides alone. Why did this military conflict come to this point? This must start more than 20 years ago.
Why did this war break out?
First, the cause of today's Russian-Ukrainian war was because when Crimea collapsed in 1991, the entire Ukrainian states decided to decide that Ukraine was a whole country through a referendum and became independent from the former Soviet Union. At that time, Crimea also participated in the referendum. Although it was among all Ukrainian states at that time, the proportion of supporting independence was the lowest, but it also reached 54%, more than half. At that time, according to the referendum's pro-dependence ratio, Crimea and other Ukrainian states became a brand new independent country, and the result was widely recognized by the world, including Russia.
Now Russia cannot re-report the old things in a nonsense way after more than 30 years have passed. Because the Russian regime at that time had no doubt about this, but now it is arguing about "since ancient times". If everyone says this reason "since ancient times", then Russia should first return at least 1.5 million square kilometers of land in the Qing Dynasty.
Similarly, as far as Crimea is concerned, it has not been Russia since ancient times.
Crimean Peninsula In ancient times, this place was Tatars , and Celtic inhabited and managed, and these had little to do with Russia.
Second, there was a Budapest Convention in 1994. This Convention was signed by the United States, Britain, Russia and Ukraine. The core content of its convention is that Ukraine abandoned the nuclear weapon it inherited from the Soviet Union, while the other three countries promised to ensure its security and nuclear security in the convention. Thirty years later, in 2014, the party who signed the contract, Russia actually sent troops to occupy Crimea, claiming that the Crimean Peninsula had become Russia's territory! From this point of view, who is treacherous?
3. On May 27, 1997, the then Russian President Yeltsin and NATO 16 leaders signed a basic document on mutual cooperation and security between the Russian Federation and NATO in Paris. According to this document, Russia accepted NATO's eastward expansion and made a commitment to no longer deploy nuclear weapons around countries that have joined NATO, Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Lithuania , which was the three Baltic countries and Poland , which were joined NATO one after another according to this agreement, so there was no dispute over NATO's eastward expansion at the time.
In order to sign this agreement, it is said that in exchange, NATO also gave Russia $15 billion in aid. Today, it doesn’t seem to be much, but that was 24 years ago in 1997. Russia’s entire annual military expenditure was $17.5 billion, so $15 billion is not a small amount of money, people are poor and have short ambitions.
This situation is not the first time in Russian history. In 1927, due to foreign exchange tightness, the Soviet Union sold world-famous paintings in the Petersburg Winter Palace, most of which were sold to Carnegie Mellon, then Secretary of the Treasury. They spent more than 6 million US dollars to buy 21 paintings, including Raphael's famous painting "Titian", etc. Later, these paintings were donated to the National Gallery of Washington. And so on.
Fourth, in 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the Ukraine-Russia Friendship Partnership Agreement, which came into effect in 1999. According to the provisions of this treaty, the two countries recognize the boundaries defined during the former Soviet Union and respect each other territorial integrity. It is clear that Crimea is Ukraine's territory.According to the rules of international law , the boundaries between countries will be permanent once determined. Even if the treaty is terminated later, the international boundaries that have been delineated will not change again unless both parties agree. For example, the treaties signed by the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia and were considered by all Chinese descendants to be bullied unequal treaties. But by 2003, the two countries reached an agreement on the ownership of the 2,063-kilometer land border. And there was an agreement, although this was another problem.
1997 is the tough president who is currently fighting the war. This treaty signed by himself, which means that Russia and Ukraine have no dispute on the territorial borders, including the Crimea issue. Even when Ukraine is invaded by foreign enemies, Russia has an obligation to provide guarantees.
How is the Russian-Ukraine boundary determined?
In 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the " Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Ukraine and Russia". The treaty came into force in 1999 and has a validity period of ten years. According to the provisions of the treaty, the two countries recognize the Russian-Ukrainian border divided during the Soviet period, respect each other's territorial integrity, and confirm that the Crimean Peninsula belongs to Ukraine. The treaty also stipulates that if one party wants to change or terminate the treaty, it must submit written documents to the other party 6 months before the expiration of the treaty, otherwise the treaty will automatically last for 10 years. Ukraine exercised this right, ending the treaty in 2018, leaving it invalid on April 1, 2019. In addition, as per international law practice, boundaries are permanent once determined unless both parties agree to change. The termination of the treaty will not change the established international borders.
In January 2003, the then President Kuchima and Putin signed a two-country border agreement, determining the land border. In April 2004, the two countries further signed a border treaty.
2003, domestic media reported that Russia and Ukraine signed a border treaty
2004, domestic media reported that the Russian parliament approved the Russian-Ukraine border treaty
The border confirmation between Russia and Ukraine again and again. If such a border is not recognized, is there still a border worthy of recognition in this world?
Later, this was not the case. The treaty became a piece of waste paper. In 2014, Russia first occupied Crimea. In February this year, it sent troops again to launch this special military operation against Ukraine from three directions. This war was originally a special military operation to occupy other people's capitals and annex the entire Ukraine.
By the way, NATO and the United States have never promised that NATO will not expand eastwardly, and no treaty has ever mentioned it, and never.
Let’s talk about the difference between NATO and Russia, NATO also has military invasion of other countries. And more than once, but NATO has never seized an inch of territory with a country.
1995 NATO armed intervention will not lead to war. Kosovo in 1999, Afghanistan War in 2001, Iraq in 2003, armed intervention in Libya in 2011, NATO did not compete for an inch of land that occupied the above countries. Let's look at Russia's Soviet-Finn War in 1940, resulting in the merger of 410% of the territory equivalent to Finland html into the former Soviet Union.
After in World War II, the land occupied by 200,000 square kilometers of Poland has not been returned to this day. Entered , Georgia, in 2008, and the special military conflict launched in February this year, manipulated through referendum independence, resulting in the war further escalation.
These are all historical facts. If any one does not match history, I hope netizens will criticize and correct it.
Someone asked two questions on the Internet, such as Putin , and more like asking the whole world, their views on this war.
"Public, why attack Ukraine?"—"Because it wants to join NATO."
"Public, why not attack Poland?"—"Because it has joined NATO."
