Ukraine Crisis and Russia's Involvement

The Ukraine crisis started in 2014 when Russia invaded Crimea illegally. It also violated a treaty that Russia signed during the 50s which gave Crimea back to Ukraine after Stalin had done some shady stuff. This treaty was signed to help Russia, especially the leader at the time, Nikita Khrushchev, look better in the eyes of Ukrainian leadership. The invasion of Crimea has displaced 2 million people, mainly people called Tatars. Tatars are people of Turkic descent who were apart of the Ottoman Empire until Catherine the Great added it to the Russian Empire. This is not the first time the Tatars have been displaced either. In 1944, Stalin forcefully exiled over 200,000 Tatars to places in East Asia and Siberia, and brought ethnic Russians in instead. This still has consequences today because many of the people in Crimea are of Russian ethnicity and support Russia in this conflict. This conflict is clearly one of a realism approach, which is very typical of Russian power. In fact, some people believe that Russia is doing this in order to get back to the power they once had. They want to return to how powerful they were "pre-Soviet" era, and the fact that there are many ethnic Russians in Crimea is very helpful for this goal. Not only are there ethnic Russians living in Crimea before, but many are actually moving there for economic advantages. Again, this has had a very negative affect for Tatars, because many are being harassed by a very aggressive Russian occupancy. This approach of realism power is one that is heavily supported by the Russian people, even though it is costing their government billions of dollars. I'm not entirely sure yet how this conflict will resolve either, because although the US has asked Russia to stop, they haven't allied or backed up Ukraine. This conflict could actually go Russia's way, if they play their cards right.

https://www.history.com/news/crimea-russia-ukraine-annexation

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