Opinions on Russia and Ukraine dispute

Patrick Corso, Staff Writer

For the past seven years, Russia and Ukraine have been involved in a protracted conflict over the Euromaidan protests and the overthrowing of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. The war went into effect following demonstrations by pro-Russian groups based in the Donbas area of Ukraine. In response to the conflict, the U.S. paid $1 billion in aid packages to Ukraine in 2014. Many could ask this question: what if the U.S. entered the conflict like what they did during the war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria?

Many feel the U.S. could enter the conflict, as Russia’s interference on both the 2016 and 2020 United States presidential elections constituted an attack on American politics. Following the 2016 election, special counsel Robert Mueller initiated a two-year-long investigation to determine what may have caused Russia to interfere with the operations of the election, with the end result being in a “sweeping and systematic fashion.” During his congressional testimony in July 2019, Mueller stated that many more countries ended up developing campaigns to target U.S. elections using Russia’s model.In the wake of the 2016 interference, the U.S. took precautions to ensure the same did not happen in the 2020 election. The U.S. has accused their rivals Russia, China and Iran for attempting to influence the election. Former president Donald Trump’s talk with Ukraine to influence the election ultimately led to him facing his first impeachment for abuse of power, for which he was acquitted.

America’s relations with Russia, China, and Iran have been tense as the U.S. government has laid sanctions for various malicious acts its rivals had done. This has led to historians coining the term Cold War II to describe the political and military tensions involving the United States and China, as well as Russia in the post-Soviet era.Ukraine and the United States have a strong relationship, with one in three Ukrainians approving U.S. leadership. The U.S. officially recognized Ukraine following its independence from the Soviet Union in December 1991, and established diplomatic relations a month later in January 1992. The relations suffered a stint in 2002 following one of the recordings that were made during the Cassette Scandal, which revealed an alleged transfer of a sophisticated Ukrainian defense system to Iraq. Despite this, the U.S. supports Ukraine’s plan to join the North Atlantic Peace Treaty, or NATO for short.

In the current day, current Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with U.S. president Joe Biden about NATO speeding up Ukraine’s request to join the alliance. Russia’s military movements in the country pose no threat, but warnings from Russian official Dmitry Kozak stated that if Russian troops try to defend Russian citizens living in Ukraine, the country could collapse from inside out. Ever since the conflict broke out, more than half a million people living in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s republic ended up receiving Russian passports. If the conflict between Ukraine and Russia doesn’t stop, then this could be like The Troubles that plagued the United Kingdom and Ireland for three decades.