The Question of Russia and Eastern Europe – Political
Committee
Hi, and welcome to the Political Committee. I am Sergey Vartanov one of the chairs of the
Committee, I’m really looking forward to the Shrewsbury MUN, and it is definitely going to be an
interesting experience and a very good debate. And the information below, will help you get aware
about the conference, and will get you prepared for the debates.
GENERAL
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus as to
the precise area it refers to, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical,
geographical, cultural, and socioeconomic connotations. The United Nations Statistics
Division classified the Eastern Europe as a grouping of Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic,
Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
Eastern Europe and Russia are very closely intertwined due to their ethnicity, proximity and
political unions. During 20th century Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian
SFSR) and East-European countries were part of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It was a
union of multiple subnational Soviet Republics, governed by Communist Party with Moscow
as its capital, making the government and economy highly-centralised on Russia. Modern day
states which were part of USSR are: Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and
Uzbekistan. Moreover, USSR had satellite states in Europe until 1989 which were: Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia (modern day Czech Republic and Slovakia), East Germany (modern day
Germany), Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia (it was a satellite only until 1948
and now is modern day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia)
and Albania (it was a satellite only until 1961). After the satellite states overthrew their
respective communist regimes there was a rise of national and separatist movement in
USSR. In August 1991, a failed coup d’état by Communist Party attempted to displace
Mikhail Gorbachev from power has become a trigger for Dissolution of USSR on 25th
December, after Gorbachev’s resignation.
Now Russia still has connections and large influence over Eastern Europe, seen in creation
of Eurasian Economic Union in which Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
allow free movement of: goods, capital, services and people and provide common policies.
However, the question of relations between Russia and East-European countries is relevant
in the world today, especially due to the recent destabilising conflicts in the region, such as
Nagorno- Karabakh War and War in Donbass, in which Russia has played the supportive
role by supplying armaments. Moreover, the Ukrainian revolution of 2014, which led to
War in Donbass, was a direct consequence of the opposing interests of Ukrainians
concerning Yanukovych’s choice to seek closer cooperation with Russia, instead pf
association agreement with the European Union. In this conflict Russia has played a more
involved role as its actions served as a catalyst for this revolution.
THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT
Russian SFSR and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR) have been part of the
USSR, until its collapse in 1991. Therefore, Russia had very close connections with Ukraine
until recently. President Yanukovich abandoned an agreement on closer trade ties with EU
on 21st Novemeber 2014, seeking closer cooperation with Russia, which was granted as
Putin offers to buy $15 billion debt and reduce the price of Russian gus supplies by a third.
This has caused hundreds of thousands of people to attend a demonstration in Kiev, which
turned more violent as time progressed, evolving into clashes between protestors and
Ukrainian peacekeeping forces, causing hundreds of casualties. After signing a compromise
deal with protest leaders, Ukrainian president Yanukovych flees, leaving protestors to take
control. Russia’s parliament approves Putin to use force in Ukraine on 1st March to protect
Russian interests, assisting the Pro-Russian separatist Ukrainians in seizing key building in
Crimean capital, Simferopol. A Crimean referendum to decide Crimea’s secession is held on
16th March, in which 97% voters vote to secede. However, it is considered illegitimate by
the West as by article 73 of Constitution of Ukraine and article 3 of the 2012 Ukrainian law,
the territorial changes could only be made by referendum where all of citizens of Ukraine
are eligible to vote, when the referendum was only held in Crimea. It is = later absorbed
into Russia on 18th March. Simultaneously pro-Russian protests across southern and eastern
Ukraine escalated into an armed conflict between the separatist forces of the self-declared
Donetsk and Lubansk People’s Republic, and the Ukrainian government, known as War in
Donbass. Russia has directly assisted separatist forces by using artillery which were shelling
Ukrainian positions at the end of August/beginning of September, helping them to regain the
lost territory. There were 2 constantly violated ceasefires, “Minsk Protocol” and “Minsk II”.
However, the stalemate was reached after Debaltseve was captured by separatists, with no
major casualties resulting in the most recent ceasefire of 1st September.
RESPONSE OF THE WEST
The European Union and USA have imposed sanctions on Russia, yet they proven ineffective
as Russia’s involvement in Ukraine was unaffected. Therefore, these sanctions have only
severed the relations between Russia and the West and have caused significant economic
problems for both sides, as Russian rouble collapsed and European Union lost a significant
part of their exports.
UN adopted a resolution 68/262 entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine,” which affirmed
Ukraine’s territorial integrity and underscored the invalidity of the 2014 Crimean
referendum. Even though, it was adopted it antagonised the Russian delegation, who called
the resolution “counterproductive” and accused western states of using blackmail and
threats to increase approval rates.
We must consider the history of Crimea to understand these outcomes. Crimea has been a
part of Russian SFSR until 1954 when it was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR by the decree
of the Presidium of Supreme Soviet (USSR’s Parliament). However, this decree violated both
Russian SFSR’s and USSR’s constitutions and was considered illegitimate by most powerful
component of Russian judicial system, Precursor General of Russia. Therefore, from Russian
perspective Crimean absorption was justified by the fact that its transfer to Ukraine was
illegal in the first place, yet from the perspective of the West Crimean absorption was
illegitimate as it was carried upon an illegitimate referendum.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
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How should we best keep peace and stability in the region?
Should we leave the region alone and just let the countries involved decide their
own future? How can we best support self-determination?
What can be done about the reported human rights abuses?
Should we be concentrating on only the conflict zones in the region or the region as
a whole? What role does NATO have in the future of the region?
What should we do about sanctions imposed on Russian Federation by the EU and
US?
Bibliography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Europe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_transfer_of_Crimea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_pro-Russian_unrest_in_Ukraine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Donbass
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation