چکیده:
The US proposal in 2008 for Ukraine's accession to NATO, aimed at integrating this country into Europe's military sector, and Brussels' actions for Ukraine's membership in the European Union to ensure its integration into Europe's economic sector, created significant sensitivity among Russian leaders. Given the principle of territorial sovereignty among Russian decision-makers, it was clear that efforts to integrate Ukraine into Europe's military and economic systems would severely exacerbate the historical sense of insecurity among the ruling elites in Moscow. The question that arises is: what are the primary factors shaping the Ukraine crisis? Historical considerations and Russia's geopolitical imperatives regarding Ukraine, Ukraine's vast internal fissures, and the inability of the West, and especially the United States, to reassure Russia that policies regarding Ukraine are not threatening, made the Ukraine crisis inevitable.
خلاصه ماشینی:
That the President of the United States, Barack Obama, explicitly declares "Russia is not a first-rate security threat to America" (Wilson, 2014) makes Russian leaders more justified in explaining the reasons for their fear of American policies regarding Ukraine and the necessity of annexing Crimea to Russia.
The Ukraine crisis, where the European Union's efforts to integrate this country into the Western economic orbit and America's efforts to change the prevailing political equations in Ukraine—which Victoria Nuland, the US State Department's official for Eurasia and Europe, made clear to the Russian leaders—provided the opportunity for Moscow to annex the Crimean Peninsula, which holds great strategic importance for Russia, within the framework of a nationalist and expansionist definition of Russian national interests that enjoys historical, cultural, and geopolitical strength among the country's elites and has legitimacy among the masses.
Geopolitical imperatives, which due to the dominance of the logic of territorial power are of great importance among Russian decision-makers, and on the other hand, the numerous historical and cultural ties between Moscow and Kyiv, make Russia's intense sensitivity toward the efforts of America and the European Union regarding Ukraine inevitable.
From Vladimir Putin's perspective, given that in most cases, and especially in relation to near abroad countries, geopolitical realities and historical imperatives shape the formation of his policies, America's attempt to expand NATO to Ukraine and Brussels' policies to expand European economic integration through Ukraine's membership, were defined and inferred as a threat to Russian national interests and a danger to the country.
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