The situation currently unfolding between Russia and Ukraine has become the focus of international media attention—but news reports on dramatic current events can lack key context. Geography Today: An Encyclopedia of Concepts, Issues, and Technology provides an expert overview of the history behind the conflict that will help educators and students approach this pivotal current event with nuance and critical understanding:
One example of a geopolitical hotspot, or conflict zone, is the boundary area between the Russian and European realms. The Russian realm is the only world realm that consists of a single country. It is immense—it spans 11 time zones and contains several regions within it. There are a number of different cultures within Russia, but most non-Russian cultures live along the realm’s borders. These include Armenian, Turkic, Ukrainian, and Azerbaijani peoples. Ethnic Russians live in the more densely populated area west of the Ural Mountains. The Russian realm shares a border with 14 other nations and 4 other realms, which creates the potential for many geopolitical hotspots along Russia’s borders.
Ukraine sits on Russia’s southwestern border. It was once the heart of the powerful state of Kievan Rus, which extended from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea at its height in the 11th century and included modern Ukraine and Belarus, as well as parts of modern Russia. Following the decline of Kievan Rus, Ukraine was ruled by different powers, including the Mongols, the Ottomans, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Austria, and the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire solidified its control over most of Ukraine in the late 18th century, seeking to “Russify” the region by promoting Russian language and culture. By the early 20th century, Russia, now the Soviet Union, had full control of Ukraine, and the region became one of the original republics of the Union in 1922. Under Soviet control, agriculture was collectivized, intellectuals were killed, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was destroyed. In the 1950s and 1970s, Ukraine endured further campaigns to “Sovietize” its population. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared independence in 1991. It has, however, had a difficult time recovering from the long legacy of Soviet control.
Political Conflict
Since independence, Ukraine has been at the center of a game of tug-of-war between the European and Russian realms. The country is culturally and ethnically mixed due to its long history of alternating allegiances. It is torn between two realms that attempt to influence its politics and loyalties economically as well as militarily. In the 21st century, Ukraine has wavered between the financial benefits of becoming a member of the European Union and remaining loyal to Russia, which had been supplying the country with large amounts of financial aid. Public unrest over Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych’s close ties to the Russian government in 2014, however, led to his ouster and aligned the country more closely with Western powers.
Cultural Conflict
While Yanukovych’s ouster was popular with much of the Ukrainian public, especially those in the capital of Kiev, not all Ukrainians supported it. Like many countries on the borders of realms, Ukraine hosts a diverse ethnic population. Not only are there ethnic Ukrainians and a number of smaller ethnic groups, but there is also a significant Russian population. There are ethnic Russian enclaves in the Crimea region of Ukraine, along with a few other areas in eastern Ukraine. These populations favor closer economic and political ties to Russia.
In a referendum, or vote, held in Crimea, shortly after Yanukovych stepped down, Crimea’s voters chose to secede from Ukraine. Crimea, in addition to supporting a large ethnic Russian population, is also of strategic importance to Russia: it guards the opening to the Sea of Azov, which has both Russian and Ukrainian shipping ports. Following Crimea’s vote, Russian president Vladimir Putin lost no time in annexing Crimea, essentially taking it and making it a part of Russia. He reasoned that Russia was protecting Crimea’s Russian population from a new, pro-Western Ukrainian government that might not respect the rights of the minority population. Russia also gained territory of strategic economic and military importance in the annexation.
Conflict over Natural Resources
The annexation of Crimea to Russia heightened tensions between the European and Russian realms, however. The European Union and the United States, which have a clear historical preference of keeping Russia “contained” (or within its historical borders), immediately imposed sanctions on Russia. The sanctions served to further aggravate tensions between Russia and the West but have not stopped Russia from supporting other pro-Russia areas of Ukraine.
In 2018, Russia, intent on asserting its control over Ukraine, chose to do so by dominating the two countries’ shared natural resources. Natural resources are always a potential point of disagreement between countries that must share them. Disagreements can occur over such issues as how much of the resource each country uses, how a country might modify that resource to the detriment of others, or whether one country decides to exert control over the resource.
In addition to a land border, Russia and Ukraine share the Dnieper River, the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov. In May 2018, Russia built a bridge from Russia to Crimea over the Kerch Strait, which connects the Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. All ships leaving and entering Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov must pass under this bridge, and its size limits the types of ships that can pass under. Several months later, Russian ships fired upon and seized three Ukrainian naval ships that were attempting to reach Ukraine’s port of Mariupol in the Sea of Azov. These coercive tactics have affected Ukraine economically and even politically and have further escalated tensions between not only Russia and Ukraine, but also the greater European and Russian realms.
The conflict between Russia, Ukraine, and Europe is complex, having developed over centuries. Russia and Ukraine have a long, shared history. Ukraine, while leaning toward Western culture and economic practices, still has Russian elements to its society, not the least of which is a significant Russian population. It is pulled in two different directions as a point, or country, of contention between Russia and the West—and both realms are attempting to win influence.
Like Ukraine, many regions along the borders of realms are conflict zones or geopolitical hotspots. They are on the frontlines of clashes in economies, cultures, ethnicities, political systems, and historical memory. Turkey is another country torn between realms. It sits at the confluence of the European, Russian, and North Africa and Southwest Asian realms. In the 20th and 21st centuries, it has traded political, economic, and military allegiances between the West and Russia. Culturally, Turkey is torn between the West and the Middle East. Pakistan and India sit on the border of the North African and Southwest Asian realm and the South Asian realm. The two nations share some cultural similarities because they both were once part of British India, but they now have vast religious and political differences and long-standing historical animosity. On the North American continent is the tension on the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexico is part of the Middle American realm, and the United States is part of the North American realm. Although their border region hasn’t had military conflict in recent history, it remains a region of clashing economies, cultures, ethnicities, and historical memory. Conflict at the borders of realms is a perpetual part of history and will continue to play an important part in international relations in the future.
Research List
10 related reference entries from ABC-CLIO’s World History: The Modern Era database. Resources include:
- Contemporary Issues: Ukraine
- Map: Political Map of Ukraine
- Contemporary Issues: Russia
- Reference Article: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
About ABC-CLIO Databases
All-in-one curriculum solutions across 16 subject areas, featuring embedded professional development for educators and tools for student research and inquiry. Take a Tour
