CRIMEAN CRISIS -

Friends in this article we will discuss one very important international matter.  I hope you might have heard in news about 2014 CRIMEAN Crisis, Pro-Russian protest in Ukraine, and about Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Let’s go through this matter in detail.

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km² (233,062 sq mi)—including Crimea, which is claimed and controlled by neighboring Russia—making it the largest country entirely within Europe. Ukraine borders Russia to the east, northeast and south, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast, respectively.

Ukraine has long been a global breadbasket due to its extensive, fertile farmlands. As of 2011, it was the world's third-largest grain exporter with that year's harvest being much larger than average. Ukraine is one of ten most attractive agricultural land acquisition regions. Additionally, the country has a well-developed manufacturing sector, particularly in aerospace and industrial equipment.

Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement

The Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement is a treaty between the European Union (EU) and Ukraine that establishes a political association between the two parties. The parties committed to cooperate and converge policy, legislation, and regulation across a broad range of areas, including equal rights for workers, steps towards visa-free movement of people, the exchange of information and staff in the area of justice, the modernization of Ukraine's energy infrastructure, and access to the European Investment Bank. The parties committed to regular summit meetings, and meetings among ministers, other officials, and experts.

The agreement commits Ukraine to economic, judicial and financial reforms to converge its policies and legislation to those of the European Union. Ukraine committed to gradually conform to EU technical and consumer standards. The EU agreed to provide Ukraine with political and financial support, access to research and knowledge, and preferential access to EU markets. The agreement commits both parties to promote a gradual convergence toward the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy and European Defense Agency policies.

The agreement comes after more than two decades in which both parties sought to establish closer ties with each other. On one hand, the European Union wants to ensure that its imports of grain and natural gas from Ukraine, as well as its exports of goods to Ukraine, are not threatened by instability in the region, believing that instability can eventually be reduced through sociopolitical and economic reforms in Ukraine. Ukraine, on the other hand, wants to increase its exports by benefiting from free trade with the European Union while attracting desirable external investments, as well as establishing closer ties with a sociopolitical entity to which many Ukrainians feel strong cultural connection.

The political section of the treaty was signed on 21 March 2014 after a series of events that had stalled its ratification culminated in a revolution in Ukraine and the ousting of the then incumbent President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. This ousting was sparked by Yanukovych's refusal to sign the agreement under pressure from Russia—Ukraine's second largest trading partner—who instead presented an association with the Russian-led customs union between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia as an alternative.

  Crimean peninsula

  Russia

  Ukraine

Crimean Crisis –

The Crimean crisis is an ongoing international crisis principally involving Russia and Ukraine. Most developments apply to the Crimean Peninsula, a multi-ethnic region which until February 2014 was administered by Ukraine as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the administratively separate municipality of Sevastopol, both are populated by an ethnic Russian majority and a minority of both ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars. Currently, the Crimean Peninsula is administered by the Russian Federation as the Crimean Federal District.

The crisis unfolded in late February 2014 in the aftermath of the Ukrainian Revolution, which resulted in President Viktor Yanukovych's impeachment by the Ukrainian parliament after his flight from the capital, setting May 25 for a new presidential election, the appointment of an interim President, and the formation of an interim government. The Yatsenyuk Government attained recognition from Western countries. However, the Russian government held that Yanukovych was illegally impeached and continues to regard him as Ukraine’s last democratically elected and legitimate president, while considering the Yatsenyuk government illegitimate and the result of a coup d'etat.

On 1 March, regional state administration buildings (RSAs) in various eastern Ukraine  were briefly occupied by pro-Russian activists. By 11 March, all occupations had ended, after units of the local police and the Security Service of Ukraine(SBU) re-took the buildings. In Donetsk, protests have descended into violence on multiple occasions, including on 13 March where one pro-Kiev protester was stabbed to death. In Kharkiv, Patriots of Ukraine members shot dead a pro-Russian protester and a passerby on the night of 15 March when pro-Russian protesters attacked the Right Sector headquarters.

According to officials and pro-government eyewitness accounts not all attendees of the protests are Ukrainian nationals; but a significant number of them are Russian citizens. Pro-Russian activists, meanwhile, say that pro-Ukrainian counter-protesters consist of paid attendees and students who are under threat of expulsion from their universities (if they fail to attend the pro-Ukrainian rallies).^] Donetsk oblast governor Serhiy Taruta alleges that rallies in Donetsk contain ex-convicts and others who traveled from Crimea. Ukraine's security forces and border guards since 4 March have denied more than 8,200 Russians into the country as of 25 March. On 27 March, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said that between 500 and 700 Russians were being denied entry daily.

Following the events of the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, a secession crisis began on Ukraine's Russian-leaning Crimean Peninsula. In late February 2014, unidentified armed forces began to take over the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine. Ukraine and Western commentators identified the gunmen as Russian Special Forces and other paramilitaries.

Russia, which has various strategic interests in and historical ties to Crimea, insists that the forces did not include Russian troops, but only local self defense forces, and that the up to 25,000 troops Russia is allowed to station in Sevastopol and the Crimea under the 1997 Russia-Ukraine Agreement extended in 2010 at Kharkiv remained uninvolved and within the treaty's limits prior to the referendum and reunification of Crimea with Russia. Their subsequent open involvement was said to be in response to the will of the local population  and as a humanitarian effort to protect ethnic Russians in the region. Russia does not recognize the newly installed interim government in Ukraine, instead recognizing ousted-President Viktor Yanukovych  whose request for intervention has also been cited. The Ukrainian military reaction has been limited to a mobilization of Ukraine's armed forces and reserves. As of 3 March, Russia has stated that its troops would stay until the political situation was "normalised".

The Supreme Council of Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine, and held a referendum on 16 March 2014 on whether Crimea should join the Russian Federation or remain part of Ukraine with the autonomy it had in 1992. The referendum resulted in a reported turnout of over 81%, where over 95% of voters supported Crimea joining the Russian Federation. The events caused alarm among the Crimean Tatar ethnic group, whose members were deported en masse to Central Asia in 1944 under orders from Joseph Stalin, claiming a huge death toll. On 27 March 2014, a United Nations General Assembly resolution approved by 59% of the member states declared the Crimea referendum invalid and called on all States, international organizations and specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on the basis of 16 March referendum.

Internationally, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Georgia, Moldova, Turkey, Australia  and the European Union condemned Russia, accusing it of breaking international law and violating Ukrainian sovereignty. The US, EU, and Canada threatened and later implemented sanctions against Russian individuals considered to be involved based on "Russia's clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity", to which Russia responded in kind. China, India and many developing countries remained relatively neutral.

Strategic Importance -

The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the Crimean peninsula with only the Strait of Kerch separating it from Russia to the east by a short 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). Crimea is a part of Ukraine but, as an autonomous republic, it has its own constitution. According to the 2001 census, 58% of the two million residents of Crimea are ethnic Russians, 24% are ethnic Ukrainians, and 12% are Crimean Tatars. As tensions escalated in the region, Russia intervened under the justification that it must "protect Russian civilians and military in Ukraine".[a]

The Russian-Ukrainian Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet, signed in 1997 and prolonged in 2010, determined the status of the military bases and vessels in Crimea. Russia is allowed to maintain up to 25,000 troops, 24 artillery systems (with a caliber smaller than 100 mm), 132 armored vehicles, and 22 military planes, on the Crimean and Sevastopol. The Russian Black Sea fleet is allowed to stay in Crimea until 2042.

Location of the Port of Sevastopol and Kacha in relation to Crimea and Russia. Newly stationed soldiers have been posted inDzhankoy,[citation needed] a major transportation hubin the Crimean peninsula where two major railways and two major European highways pass. Dzhankoy is also home to many industrial factories and is considered an entry point to Crimea.

At the same time, the Port of Sevastopol and the town of Kacha are located in Sevastopol, a city in the southwestern area of the peninsula that does not belong to Crimea administratively. Both locations hold key strategic value for Russia, economically and militarily.[100] The Port of Sevastopol, which Russia currently leases from Ukraine, is considered a key hold for maritime routes between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, and by extension the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.[101] It is also one of the few warm deepwater ports in the Black Sea available to Russia.

As the Ukrainian revolution unfolded—and as the newly installed Ukrainian government began to distance itself from Russia—it may have been the case that Russia felt that its access to the port and its military bases in the Crimean peninsula were in jeopardy, according to an analyst at the CNA corporation. On the other hand, the town of Kacha serves as military headquarters for Russia's 25th Independent Anti-submarine Helicopter Regiment (25th AHR) and the 917th Independent Composite Air Regiment (917th ICAR) of the Black Sea Fleet Naval Air Force. Ensuring access to the port and Russia's military bases in the Crimean peninsula may have been two of the main factors that sparked Russia's military intervention, according to an analyst at the CNA corporation, adding that it is however hard to speculate on motivations.

Petroleum resources

Crimea also possesses several natural gas fields both onshore andoffshore, all connected to Ukraine's pipeline system. The inland fields are located in Chornomorske and Dzhankoy, while offshore fields are located in the western coast in the Black Sea and in the northeastern coast in the Azov Sea .

Russian Prime Minister Medevdev pledged to make the peninsula’s development a “national priority”. A special government ministry has been created in Moscow to oversee Crimea’s development as a special economic zone with lower taxes and reduced bureaucracy to attract investor. Moscow would also subsidize air fares to make Crimea as popular with Russian tourists as it used to be in soviet times.

Russia and US have agreed to work for a diplomatic solution in the Ukraine crisis through an inclusive constitutional reform.

Friends most of the content is from Wikipedia and “ The Hindu “ news paper. I just consolidated it. You fill daily find update on this matter in leading news paper. So keep yourself updated.

JAI HIND..