Russian President Vladimir Putin denies Ukraine’s right to exist as a sovereign state. The conflict has been smoldering in eastern Ukraine since 2014. But it is not the only region where Russia is involved in territorial disputes.
Despite the controversial recognition of the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine, Russia is not striving to rebuild an empire, according to President Vladimir Putin. “That is absolutely not the reality,” Putin said in the Kremlin on Tuesday. Moscow has seen the “speculation” on the subject “that Russia wants to rebuild the empire within the imperial borders,” said Putin. He had previously recognized the “Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics” as independent states.
In a television speech on Monday, Putin said that Ukraine owes its existence to the Russian and the communist empires of the Soviet Union. He also questioned the statehood of the ex-Soviet republic. There have long been allegations in the West that Putin wants to use the phantom pain of the lost great power to create a new empire like in the days of the Soviet Union or the Tsars. He rejected that again.
Caucasus: Russia intervenes militarily in conflict
The Soviet Union, founded 100 years ago, disintegrated 30 years ago. Putin once again expressed his regret that Ukraine, after a bloody coup and a violent takeover of power, has abandoned this cooperation with Russia. In his speech on Monday, he spoke of a “puppet regime” in Kiev that does not pursue its own policies, but is controlled and instrumentalized by the United States in order to weaken Russia.
By recognizing the self-proclaimed “people’s republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk, Putin is fueling fears of a new war in Europe. The step, which has been sharply condemned internationally, officially makes Russia a party to the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has been smoldering since 2014. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has been militarily involved in a number of wars. Since the end of the USSR there have been disagreements about borders with or about small islands that could be resolved. But even today there are still disputes over territories in which Russia is involved.
For example in the Caucasus: In August 2008, the Georgian army began a military offensive to recapture South Ossetia, which has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since the early 1990s. In response, Russia transfers soldiers to Georgian territory, who inflict a crushing defeat on the Georgian army within five days. Hundreds of people are killed during the short war. It is the most serious crisis between East and West since the end of the Cold War.
Decades-long dispute with Japan over the Kuril Islands
At the end of August 2008, Moscow recognized South Ossetia and the also breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia as independent. Since then, Russia has maintained a strong military presence in both regions, which the West condemns as a de facto occupation. The breakaway regions remain dependent on Russia, which has recognized their state sovereignty. The EU and the USA continue to see the areas as part of Georgia.
There are also territorial disputes in the Far East. For example, the conflict over the Kuril Islands between Russia and Japan in the Pacific has been going on for decades. Specifically, it is about the islands of Shikotan, Habomai, Kunashir and Iturup. The islands are in close proximity to Japan in the northeast of the island of Hokkaido. Russia considers the “Southern Kuril Islands” to be legal territory because Japan lost World War II and the islands therefore fell to the then Soviet Union. Since their collapse, they have belonged to Russia and are also administered by Russia. However, Japan claims the southern part of the archipelago for itself and sees the islands as belonging to Russia.
In recent years, Moscow has increasingly created facts. The then President Dmitry Medvedev was the first Russian head of state to visit one of the southern Kuril Islands – despite violent protests from Japan. Russia gave some islands names of former Soviet generals and politicians. Japan called this “very regrettable” at the time. In addition, Russia positioned anti-missile missiles on some islands and built an air force base. Today, tens of thousands of people also live on the islands.
The dispute between the two states is one reason why Japan and Russia have not signed a peace treaty to this day – despite decades of negotiations.
Swell: News agencies DPA, AFP, and , , , , , ,
Source: Stern
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