Post by Sailor on Mar 3, 2014 18:43:10 GMT -8
Russia has issued a series of ultimatums for Ukrainian forces in Crimea to surrender and disarm by this morning or risk coming under attack, the new government in Kiev said last night.
As Russian fighters buzzed Ukraine’s borders, the Kremlin defied international pressure to back off and instead turned the screw on its neighbour.
President Vladimir Putin visited military units deployed near Russia’s frontier with Ukrain, where they are conducting “exercises”. The defence ministry in Kiev said the country had been on the receiving end of a series of hostile acts, including incursions by Russian jets flying along its northern border with Belarus.
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels condemned Russia’s “act of aggression” in occupying Crimea and said that sanctions would be “considered” unless Russia took “de-escalating steps”.
More here:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10674512/Kremlin-issues-ultimatums-to-Ukrainian-forces.html
From the days of Catherine the Great until the breakup of the USSR and formation of the modern Ukraine, the Crimea with the major warm water port of Sevastopal has belonged to Russia. Russia fought and won wars against all comers to keep it. The majority of the population of the Crimean Penninsula are ethnic Russian.
So one way to look at Putin's move in the Crimea is an effort to correct an "error" made a (historially) short time ago.
Catherine took the Crimea and city/port of Sevastopal because of that port, the major warm water port that made Russia a world power instead of "mearly" a continental land power. Until the Pacific port of Vladivostok was linked by rail to western Russia, no other Russian port was relatively ice free year round. This made/makes Sevastopal critically important to Russia in both a commercial and military sense.
I believe that the desire to keep Sevastopal with its port and shipyards in Russian control is part of what motivates Putin. It was in Crimean shipyards that many of Russia's and later the USSR's major warships were built including every one of the "Helecopter Carrying Cruisers" that we class as carriers, the 4 "Kiev" and 2 "Kuznetsov" class ships.
Of course there is more, but this is part of the answer IMO.
The only surprise (again IMHO) is that this didn't happen earlier. When Ukraine got the Crimean Penninsula and Sevastopal after the breakup of the USSR and after all the arguments over how the Black Sea Fleet would be divided up (and no major Russian port) I figured it was only a matter of time before Russia tried to buy, trade for or steal it back.
As Russian fighters buzzed Ukraine’s borders, the Kremlin defied international pressure to back off and instead turned the screw on its neighbour.
President Vladimir Putin visited military units deployed near Russia’s frontier with Ukrain, where they are conducting “exercises”. The defence ministry in Kiev said the country had been on the receiving end of a series of hostile acts, including incursions by Russian jets flying along its northern border with Belarus.
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels condemned Russia’s “act of aggression” in occupying Crimea and said that sanctions would be “considered” unless Russia took “de-escalating steps”.
More here:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10674512/Kremlin-issues-ultimatums-to-Ukrainian-forces.html
From the days of Catherine the Great until the breakup of the USSR and formation of the modern Ukraine, the Crimea with the major warm water port of Sevastopal has belonged to Russia. Russia fought and won wars against all comers to keep it. The majority of the population of the Crimean Penninsula are ethnic Russian.
So one way to look at Putin's move in the Crimea is an effort to correct an "error" made a (historially) short time ago.
Catherine took the Crimea and city/port of Sevastopal because of that port, the major warm water port that made Russia a world power instead of "mearly" a continental land power. Until the Pacific port of Vladivostok was linked by rail to western Russia, no other Russian port was relatively ice free year round. This made/makes Sevastopal critically important to Russia in both a commercial and military sense.
I believe that the desire to keep Sevastopal with its port and shipyards in Russian control is part of what motivates Putin. It was in Crimean shipyards that many of Russia's and later the USSR's major warships were built including every one of the "Helecopter Carrying Cruisers" that we class as carriers, the 4 "Kiev" and 2 "Kuznetsov" class ships.
Of course there is more, but this is part of the answer IMO.
The only surprise (again IMHO) is that this didn't happen earlier. When Ukraine got the Crimean Penninsula and Sevastopal after the breakup of the USSR and after all the arguments over how the Black Sea Fleet would be divided up (and no major Russian port) I figured it was only a matter of time before Russia tried to buy, trade for or steal it back.
