Russia’s involvement in Ukraine during pre-War Period
Russia supported Yanukovych (a pro-Russian leader) in his coming to power in Ukraine. Donetsk Republic Party was launched in 2005 with support from Russian intelligence after Orange Revolution in 2004. Russia has time and again called the unrest it engineered as ‘civil war’. A civil war is defined as a war between organized groups within the same state leading to high intensity conflict and casualties of over 1,000 people (this applies to Donbas) but not to the rest of Ukraine. According to 2015 and 2018 polls, over 70% of Ukrainians have believed that there is a Russian-Ukraine war instead of a ‘civil war’.
Russia has indulged in information warfare since the Crimean annexation. The European Union’s database collected since 2015 says that 40% of disinformation is about Ukraine in Russian media. The key tenets of Russian information warfare include:
1. Ukrainians have ties to ISIS,
2. War crimes are committed in Donbas,
3. Ukrainians are behind the downing of Flight MH17,
4. Ukrainian language is artificial and it is a dialect of Russian
5. Ukrainian nation was created as an Austrian conspiracy to divide Russian people
In my opinion, any foreign invasion qualifies to war even if only one belligerent is involved. What needs to be questioned is that were the transgressions committed by Ukraine like delaying the implementation of Minsk Protocol grave enough to unleash a war on Ukrainian citizens to the extent of destroying the country altogether?
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Mananpro
Commented 04 Mar, 2022
I agree. Even to me, this is invasion, it is war. It's definitely much more than just what some call the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
I think the questions you raise will definitely come up at the International Court of Justice, should a trial proceed. Though ICJ only gets jurisdiction if Russia consents to it. Man, international law hangs on such a fine balance.
To me individually though, there's nothing that justifies this invasion.
It has been rather unprovoked in the short-term, yet if one dives deeper it seems to have been years in the making - with regards to somewhat of a policy of appeasement that the West has followed towards Russia, especially since that Crimean annexation.
That policy is now changing fast though. I think we may see some rapid regional developments now and new bloc formations or tightening of old ones. What do you think the implications of the war and sanctions will be for Russia?