Hard Power and Crimea



One major example of hard power from a few years back that I can think of, is the invasion and subsequent annexation of Crimea into Russia. This was carried out during the Ukranian Revolution of 2014, which caused the Ukranian president to be removed from office. During this time, there were many protests across Crimea, some calling for independence, others for Crimea to go back to being controlled by Russia. Around this time as well, Russian soldiers without insignias took over important spots in Crimea such as the port city of Sevastopol, which holds a Russian naval base. Along with this, they took over the Crimean parliament, and elected a pro-Russian prime minister for the area. On March 16, 2014, the Crimean government held a referendum, declaring independence, and was subsequently annexed two days later.

The annexation has been condemned by the Ukraine and many other world leaders, who consider it to be a violation of international law, as well as several treaties. This condemnation also extended to all Russian military intervention that was occurring in the Ukraine at the time. In turn, the leaders of the G8 temporarily suspended Russia from the group, before imposing a wave of sanctions on the country. The United Nations also condemned Russia for its actions, and it does not recognize Russia's claims to the area either.

In this instance you can see that both sides in this conflict used hard power to get what they wanted. Russia used military force to take over Crimea, and their military is still allegedly working with sepratist groups on the border. On the other side of the coin, the United Nations used hard power to put sanctions on Russia, and the G8 used their influence to suspend them from the group for a time.

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