Diary 2/14 ロシアとウクライナ

What happened between Russia and Ukraine? News report that Russia is planning to invade to Ukraine.

Ukraine has become the focus of geopolitical attention in recent weeks as Russian troop building along its borders. The U.S. has said that Russia is planning to prepare an invasion of Ukraine and, most recently, that an attack by Moscow could take places at any time. On Saturday, President Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin of “Swift and severe costs” if Russia moves against Ukraine.  On Sunday, President Biden told Ukraine’s leader that the U.S. and its allies would respond rapidly to any further Russian aggression against his country.

Russian people have fear for foreign counties because they were invaded many times in the history. They think that Western Europe is just invader. French invaded Moscow. Germany invaded Russia in 1914. Their live was getting poor and then the Russian Revolution happened in 1917. They had domestic war afterwards. In WWII, Germany attacked Russia again. Many people died and they have crucial memory in the war. The battle field was Ukraine. Ukraine is strategically very important place for Russia. Russian people don’t want Ukraine to be occupied by Western countries. There are some misunderstanding each other. Russia think NATO wouldn’t expand the territory after Cold War. But NATO actually put many eastern countries under the umbrella of Western. Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union before collapsed at the end of the Cold War, and Ukraine was the 2nd biggest country in Eastern Countries. Russia wants to refrain Ukraine from being Westernized. 

Russia is the world’s 3rd largest oil producer and if conflict in Ukraine leads to a substantial decrease in the flow of Russian barrels to market, it would be perilous for the tight balance between supply and demand.