Zik Gbemre
We join voices with world leaders and the international community to condemn the recent military invasion of Crimea, Ukraine by Russia Forces and government. The said invasion is against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as an independent nation that has been under severe crises in the last few months.
It started as a child’s play but gradually, there isn’t the slightest shred of doubt that Russia is bent on taking control of Crimea peninsular of Ukraine, in a campaign that had all of the hallmarks of its distinctive military doctrine. Russia had swiftly dispatched about 6,000 of its troops to the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
The Russian troops are not even pretending to abide by any previous agreements, and as of Sunday (March 2, 2014) morning were actively dis-arming the small numbers of Ukrainian military personnel located in the peninsula and, by setting up roadblocks and taking control of crucial bits of infrastructure, have effectively cut off Crimea from the rest of the world. It is in no way an exaggeration to say that Russia has invaded and taken over Crimea.
Exactly how bad the situation will get depends on a huge number of variables, but perhaps the most single most important one is the following: what is Russia’s end game? At the present moment it is totally unclear whether Russia simply intends to break off Crimea as a punishment for the overthrow of now former Ukraine President, Viktor Yanukovych, or if Russia intends on a much larger (and much more dangerous) campaign to overthrow and replace the current Ukrainian government. Neither of these are the slightest bit justified, and any Russian attempt to forcibly remove Crimea from Ukraine would violate a raft of international laws and treaties. But the existence of numerous “frozen conflicts” throughout the post-Soviet space shows that life can continue after the creation of a pro-Russian enclave. But if Russia’s actual goal is regime change, and the authorization for the use of military force passed by the upper house of parliament was so vaguely worded that it could be used to justify any course of action, then we could shortly be seeing open warfare in Europe.
For the Russian President, the power takeover in Ukraine was a “coup”, In his first public comments on the crisis since Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted, Mr. VladimirPutin said there was no need to use force in Crimea, where tensions between Russian and Ukrainian troops have flared. But the Russian leader said he reserved the right to use military action there as a “last resort”. Any intervention, he said, would be “legitimate and within the framework of international law”. He also claimed Mr. Yanukovych is still Ukraine’s president, saying: “As to whether this leadership in Ukraine is legitimate – no, they are not – and I can’t say anything about the legitimate status of the so-called acting president in Ukraine. Of course he doesn’t have any power in Ukraine.” Mr. Putin said Mr Yanukovych fulfilled all conditions of a February 21 agreement with the Ukrainian opposition and effectively “gave up power”. But he claimed that Mr Yanukovych “would have been murdered” if he remained in Ukraine during the unrest and no longer has a political future in the country.
Speaking on elections in Ukraine, Mr. Putin said: “If elections are held under such terror as we see now, then we won’t recognise them.” He added that pulling Russia’s ambassador from Washington over the events in Ukraine would be a “last resort” and that he would “not like this to happen”.
Although the British Foreign Secretary William Hague, has urged Russia to attend talks in Paris on Wednesday to resolve the crisis during a statement in the House of Commons, the bottom line is that the Russian President should be made to realize that Ukraine is a sovereign nation and the people of Ukraine has the right to decide who should be their leader. Mr. Hague also praised the interim Ukrainian government for its restraint in response to the “baseless” actions of Russia. And that is the truth; President Putin’s statement trying to justify his actions is baseless. If they say they are no longer comfortable with the ousted President Yanukovych, then so be it. Russia should respect the wishes of Ukrainians and not impose his military might on them.
There is obvious need for World leaders to take stringent actions against Russia to stop them from continuing with this brazen affront on a sovereign nation. Though, countries like the United States of America (USA) and even NATO are already threatening Russia with various sanctions if they do not stop their military incursion in Ukraine’s territory soon, but we believe more stringent methods should be employed if sanctions and diplomacy does not work.
What we also consider unfortunate is that if this situation between Russia and Ukraine is replicated or seen in some African or Asian countries, world powers like USA would not even hesitate to invade such an African country with their military might to dislodge the incursion of another sovereign nation. But now that it is Russia dominating its military might against Ukraine, the world powers are hesitant on what to do. We are not ignorant of the obvious fact that Russia is seen by the world powers, as potential threat and a worthy contender in military might. Hence, they are threading with care. But the bottom line is that Russia has no right to invade Ukraine’s Crimea peninsular just because they can. We condemn it and we ask that they should be stopped before the situation escalates to another round of conflicts in crises-torn Ukraine.
The people in Ukraine attended a rally against Russia on Kiev’s Independence square on March 2, 2014. Ukraine said Sunday it would call up all military reservists after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s threat to invade its neighbour drew a blunt response from US President Barack Obama. The stark escalation in what threatens to become the worst crisis in relations since the Cold War came as pro-Russian forces seized control of key government buildings and airports in the strategic Crimean peninsula. This is one sensitive situation that world leaders and organizations promptly need to address before it gets worst. We ask that the right thing be done.
