Annexation of Ukrainian territories: Russia announced plan 9 years ago
Created: 10/01/2022, 12:50 p.m
By: Teresa Toth
On September 30, Putin announced the annexation of four Russian-occupied territories.
© Mikhail Metzel/dpa
Nine years ago, Ukraine decided to orientate towards the west.
Even then, Russia indicated that it would use force to annex Ukrainian territories.
Moscow – The Kremlin has officially declared four occupied areas in Ukraine to be Russian territory.
"There are four new regions in Russia," Vladimir Putin announced on Friday (September 30) in a speech in Moscow.
The President declared around 15 percent of Ukrainian territory to be Russian.
Putin announced the annexation plan 9 years ago.
In September 2013, several representatives of Ukraine, the EU and Russia met in Yalta in Crimea, which was then still Ukrainian, to discuss Ukraine's future economic direction.
European politicians tried to encourage the Ukrainian president to turn his back on Russia.
Kremlin advisers, on the other hand, warned that the country faces financial catastrophe and possible state collapse if it goes ahead with the planned free trade agreement with the EU.
Annexation of Ukrainian territories: "The standard of living will fall dramatically," Kremlin advisors threatened
"The signing of this treaty will lead to political and social unrest," said Sergei Yuryevich Glazyev, a key adviser to Putin, according to a report by
The Guardian
at the time .
“The standard of living will fall dramatically.
Chaos will reign.” Since the mood among the Ukrainian population at the time was mostly pro-European, Ukrainian politicians opted for European integration – a decision that even then provoked anger on the Russian side.
After Ukraine's break with Russia, Glazyev indicated that Russia would consider the treaty defining the borders between the two countries invalid and mentioned that separatist movements could emerge in the Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine.
Russia can no longer guarantee Ukraine's status as a state and may intervene if pro-Russian regions in the country approach Moscow directly, the Kremlin adviser said.
Annexation of Ukrainian territories: At the time, Ukraine was not impressed by the threats
At the time, however, Ukraine and the EU were largely unperturbed by Russia's efforts to thwart the integration deal - it was hoped that Russia would start to respect Ukraine after EU integration.
But as early as 2014, Russia occupied Crimea, which is desirable from a political and economic perspective – the Russian Black Sea fleet has been stationed there since 1783 – and annexed it.
Contrary to the assumption that this was a spontaneous, situational decision by the Kremlin, experts are increasingly evaluating the annexation of Crimea as part of a well thought-out plan - such as the Russia expert Jens Siegert.
Accordingly, the annexation of Crimea had already been decided before the fall of the then Putin-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.
All new developments to read in the news ticker on the Ukraine war.
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Annexation of Ukrainian territories: Documents should prove plans
It is also likely that a conquest of eastern Ukraine was already being played out at that time.
This is evidenced, for example, by a document that came from the environment of the oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, who has direct access to the Kremlin.
In retrospect, the annexation of Crimea should have been a wake-up call: it showed that Putin was carrying out his threats, in which he repeatedly explained what he was planning to do.
(tt)
