This article is written by Josna Annie Jomon as part of the LJRF Voice Internship on Legal Journalism. She is a 3rd year BBA LLB student at Cooperative School of Law, Thodupuzha.
HISTORY
We can understand that Ukraine was a part of the Russian empire when we go through history. But in 1917 Russian Revolution took place under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin. Due to that, the King was overthrown and in 1918, Ukraine got independence. But its independence last only for three years in 1921 when the Soviet Union was formed, Ukraine became a part of the Soviet Union as the Ukraine Soviet Socialist Republic. The dissolution of the USSR in 1990 made Ukraine completely independent.
Ukraine is situated in the South West of Russia and a part of it named the Crimean Peninsula is extended to the Dead Sea. Out of the total population, 77% are Ukrainian people following the Ukrainian culture and 17% in the eastern Ukrainian side follow Russian cultures and traditions. Hence there were and still are some pro-Russian people who like to merge with Russia.
Most of the countries in Europe are now a part of the EU and NATO. This is a great security threat to Russia, as, if any country in NATO is being attacked, then the whole members of NATO will join to support the country. Ukraine is also showing an interest to join in European Union and, NATO which is a Cold-War Era creation against Russia. In 2013 EU said that if Ukraine proves itself to be a free and Republic country, it will be given membership in the EU. Russia showed its defense by introducing some trade bands and sanctions. Moreover, Russia was successful in influencing Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovych by which he made a decision not to be a part of the EU or NATO. This made a lot of protest and oppression among the public due to which the president was impeached and the government was taken off. The new president Petro Poroshenko was of the view that the country should be a part of the EU. Russia was not able to influence him. To show their défense, in 2014, Russia attacked the Crimean Peninsula. Russia said they attacked Crimea with the people’s consent, but finally, it was proven that it was a rigged referendum and had no international legitimacy. Russia got ejected from G7. Currently, the Ukrainian president is making some moves to make the country a member of NATO. This is what exactly raised Russia to move to war. At first, they started with a diplomatic move but all the countries showed their support towards Ukraine. As part of that, a proxy war arose within the territory and Russia wants to be a full-fledged war. Russian President Vladimir Putin had declared two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk which are part of Ukraine’s regions as independent nations.
STAND OF INDIA IN UKRAINE-RUSSIA ISSUE.
The UNSC has conducted a meeting to discuss making the two regions of Ukraine independent. Most of the countries’ opinions were against Russia. But the Indian representative said that “These developments have the potential to undermine peace and security of the region. The immediate priority is de-escalation. We call for restraint on all sides. We are convinced that this issue can only be resolved through diplomatic dialogue, we need to give space to recent initiatives undertaken by parties which seek to diffuse tensions.” Also, there was a meeting in February at UNSC on whether to discuss the Ukraine-Russia war. Most of the countries said it is needed. India abstained from the procedural vote. If a World War scenario rises, then India will have to take sides or deal with unhappiness from both US and Russia.
LEGALITY OF RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE
The Russian invasion of Ukraine violated international law like the charter of the United Nations. The 1945 UN charter sets out the conditions under which the UN member states may legally resort to war or the use of armed force in general, a concept called jus ad Bellum. The Russian invasion can be grasped as illegal precisely as it broke and undermined the charter. The invasion has also been called a crime of aggression under international criminal law and some countries’ domestic criminal codes including those of Ukraine and Russia.
War has always been the greatest blot on mankind. It calls for retrospection for the entire mankind to study else absolutely nothing will remain. Let’s hope that the crisis will end and everything will be back to normal.
