Understanding the Ukrainian Conflict
Harley Woods | March 24, 2022
Early on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladmir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine. Since 2014, Putin has displayed intentions to invade as evidenced by his expansion into Crimea. Areas that contribute to the understanding of this issue include Cold War history as well as media coverage and interpretation.
Special to The Echo | Sergei Grits (AP)
Children from Ukraine sleep at a railway station in Przemysl, southeastern Poland, on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Poland has received more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees since the Feb. 24 invasion.
Global studies professor Jeff Keith reflected that Putin has a different perspective on the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall than others at the time, and likely contributes to his actions today.
“When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, he was working for the KGB in Germany out of Dresden and he was burning documents for the Soviet Union, which is to say he was witness to the Berlin Wall,” Keith said. “But instead of seeing it as a freedom of expression for the people of Berlin, he saw it as a collapse of the Soviet Union and its power.”
War correspondent, diplomat and journalist in residence at Warren Wilson College (WWC), Elizabeth “Liz” Colton, shared her perspective of the situation with prior knowledge of interviewing heads of state.
“He’s certainly, and I’ve thought this, he would like to get back to the old Soviet Union,” Colton said. “Well the old Soviet Union, the U.S.S.R., had fifteen countries in it.”
Standing in Putin’s way is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), established in 1949, which is a military and political alliance between various countries across the world.
NATO’s motivations in expanding its borders have been brought into question by Putin. Only one year after the dissolving of the Soviet Union, several former members of the union joined the organization.
In response to border conflict, Colton acknowledged Putin’s strategy.
“I agree with what (Putin) thought was going to happen, that we would cave pretty fast,” Colton said. “He has been shocked and he probably did and does believe that he’s freeing the Ukrainians. But nobody thinks that. He thinks so, but there’s another side.”
Keith restated the situation.
“What’s unfolding right now is Russia is asserting control over Ukraine through means that are extra political,” Keith said. “They are waging war to control the territory that we know as Ukraine and their goal, their explicit goal, is to overthrow the Ukrainian government.”
Colton reiterated that Putin’s invasion is not entirely a surprise.
Special to The Echo | Petros Giannakouris (AP)
Concrete blocks topped with sandbags block a street in Odesa, southern Ukraine, as at the background is stands the Preobrazhensky Cathedral, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.
“In 2008, he went into parts of Georgia, which was one of the countries, and then in 2014 into the Crimea which was part of Ukraine,” Colton said.
Although Georgia was not a country in the Soviet Union, it was under relative control by the conglomerate and the communist party.
Thinking about the past informs the future. Keith believes that it is necessary to keep a level head about the conflict.
“If we look at a future and assume that it’s coming no matter what, then we can very quickly fall prey to this idea that we can make no change,” Keith said. “And that’s just not true, history does not show that.”
One way that people can do this, Colton advises, is by weighing different sides and different news sources.
“Right now there’s a lot of this complete fog of war, as in every single war and chaos which happens in war, but it also needs nonstop coverage,” Colton said. “Now what’s happening is there’s another element in the current coverage which makes (comprehension) very difficult, and that element is the people who are what I call so-called journalists. They’re not real journalists; they’re commentators. They are on all kinds of news, online and television, and they’re being paid money to put their view point out.”
This sentiment is shared by Finnish international student Janika Pylvanainen.
“It depends on what news outlets you follow, but I feel like political conflicts are covered in most, and I feel like false information is rare,” Pylvanainen said. “I think the major news outlets vet and cite their sources.”
A recurring theme in conversation about Russian expansion is the untrustworthy character of Putin himself.
“In the Finnish media, there is a lot of discussion about Putin trying to prevent the Russian people from knowing the actual happenings in Ukraine and hiding the truth from the people,” Pylvanainen said.
Colton informs her own perspective on Putin from interviews with previous threatening characters and heads of state.
“This is what happens, not only in this war but so often,” Colton said. “It’s like Iran and the Desert Storm with Suddham Hussein — whom I interviewed several years before. They seal themselves off. They have such a reign of terror in running things.”
Additionally, Colton believes that very few people know what Putin is planning, even those in proximity. She refers to a televised meeting that Putin held with his security council on Feb. 21.
“(Putin) is quite isolated and even his small team around him, these are terrorized men,” Colton said. “He has terrorized men, and we have seen the example of what he did to his intelligence chief who was one of his closest, literally closest in even being allowed to be around him.”
Areas of Putin’s suspicions and concerns lie with NATO. Although Ukraine is not a member of NATO, its bordering countries are members of the organization.
Article five of the NATO agreement states that an attack on one member of the alliance is an attack on them all.
Because Finland borders Russia, Pylvanainen fears what may come.
Special to The Echo | Bernat Armangue (AP)
A boxing punch ball with a drawing of Russian President Vladimir Putin's face hangs inside a bar in downtown Lviv, western Ukraine, Tuesday, March 22, 2022.
“Many people are certain that Russia is going to attack Finland, especially if and when Finland joins NATO or helps Ukraine,” Pylvanainen said. “Finland already said that they will give ammunition to Ukraine, so that’s happening.”
Should Finland join NATO, the E.U. would be tied to the conflict in more ways than simply sharing borders with Ukraine.
“One of the things, there’s a big debate going on about, is what if NATO and the E.U. and the U.S. had not pushed so close (to Russian borders),” Colton said. “I read a lot of people who really knew Putin say, ‘well it wouldn’t have mattered.’”
Though there are many aspects to the conflict including economics and foreign policy, Keith states that the focus should be on Ukrainians.
“The resistance, the robust resistance of Ukrainian fighters and the Ukrainian people, illustrate that Putin and Russia are going to deal with a long-term resistance,” Keith said. “I think it’s reasonable based on the incredible power of the Russian military that Russia will topple the Ukrainian government. But that does not mean that he will conquer the spirit of Ukrainians and their rights to self determination and their sense of having sovereignty that keeps them separate from the state of Russia.”