Dear Mister President, congratulations for winning the elections! As the ruler of the most powerful state, you should be aware that the tensions between the Russian Federation and the USA are growing despite the fact that the Cold War is over. Russia feels its superiority and, as the former USSR, tries to include the border countries in its area of influence. It is unacceptable situation for the Russian Government when independent states of the former Soviet Republic conduct their own foreign policy. The most convenient way to thrive in the region is to control every step that smaller countries make in their policies. The state that seeks to subjugate everyone in the region will strive to do it on a global scale as well.
The problem itself has existed for a long period and manifested in different events. It is important to mention two the most significant moments, which happened in the recent years. The first is the armed conflict in South Ossetia between Georgia and Russia that occurred in 2008. After the war had ended, the Russian president claimed that American Republicans contributed to the escalation of the conflict. That statement has shown the relations between the two states. The Cold War could resume again (Sikharulidze, 2008). The second event, which is the Ukrainian conflict, is rather a process and a long lasting conflict. 2014 became a very difficult year for Ukrainians; the reason for that is obvious the aggression from the neighboring state led to the deepest economic crisis. Unfortunately, Ukraine is still not able to emerge from that crisis. The key event of the conflict is the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian soldiers (BBC, 2014). These actions have outraged the world community. However, the next aim of Russian government was Donbass the region rich in coal bringing revenue to the treasury of Ukraine (Kendall, 2015). The rulers of the leading states quickly reacted to the events.
The key actors in this international conflict are, certainly, Russia and Ukraine. However, the USA as well as the European Union could not leave the situation without any attention. The security of the country begins from the security of the world, and no one could be interested in the Russian transcendence. The world leaders had made significant attempts to prevent the outbreak of the war in the eastern Ukraine. Unfortunately, numerous meetings and discussions were not able to prevent it. The conflict continues to this day.
The relations between Russia and Ukraine seem to worsen rather than improve. The last event that showed the Russiaa position being a kind of mockery was the trial of Nadiya Savchenko, Ukrainian pilot and national hero. The harsh sentence showed that Russia is not going to deviate from its ideas and goals (Russian Court Sentences Ukrainian Pilot Nadezhda Savchenko to 22 Years for Murder, 2016).
This conflict is not the only one involving Russia. It seems that it seeks to capture the whole world. Conflict with Turkey is the attempt of Russian government to eliminate a competitor in the strategically important region of the Black Sea. The involvement in the Syrian war is an effort to scare the rest of the world with its power. However, I would like to analyze the Ukrainian conflict because it reflects the Russian external policy and is the shining example of the growing threat of the Russian Federation. It is quite important not to forget about Ukraine while solving other significant international problems like the North Korean testing of nuclear weapons or growing terrorism in Europe because it could be the reason for Russia to increase its power in the world.
The international community did not leave Ukraine alone with its problems related to the growing strength of its neighbor. The US were the first to impose sanctions against Russia. The decision was to ban the entry into the territory of the United States and block the assets and property of the Russian and Crimean officials (Halperin, 2014). European Union was the next to take the same measures and limit Russia. However, this did not affect the aggressor, and the process has deadlocked. The following step was economic sanctions imposed on import of food and nonfood products from Europe and America by Russia, various restrictions in banking services, travel sanctions and the list can go on for a long. The export, re-export, sale, and delivery of goods, services and technologies from the United States were restricted. In addition, bans appeared in the field of oil and gas, which is the basic income to the Russian exchequer. The sanctions were aimed at individuals, legal persons, and companies. These attempts to solve the conflict could be explained by the liberal theory of international relations. Providing sanctions, each state was thinking of its own security and stability.
Another way to resolve the conflict and reduce the confrontation was negotiations. They took place in Minsk in Norman format. The meetings of the leaders of Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia were aimed at a ceasefire in Donbass and establishment of peace in the East of Ukraine. Such negotiations were held not once, but, unfortunately, intensification of the fighting is still going on (Karatnycky, 2015). It is difficult and even unnecessary and improper to judge the points discussed in Minsk, because the greatest people of the world were trying to find the solution. However, maybe, every party acted exclusively in its own interests and was not ready to compromise. This feature is also characteristic of the realism theory of international relations in contrast to the liberal theory where the central idea is the increasing interdependence and the formation of a single world community (Slaughter, 2011). Perhaps, the world leaders should direct their full attention to achieving the global security and preserving peace in all corners of the planet rather than taking care only of their own security and prosperity.
As it was mentioned previously, it is important for our security not to let the Ukrainian crisis go out of control. As a supporter of a liberal theory of the international relations, I suppose that the global security should be put on the first place in the list of problems. Then, this point would have subsections such as Syria, North Korea and, certainly, Russia-Ukraine crisis. The international community should be able to find out the solution for each problem, which is quite a hard work.
I will try to propose my ideas in order to help the community to establish a global safety. I have thought over the issue and concluded that a lot has been already done. However, the risk of increasing the power of Russia remains dangerous for every state. For that reason, only cooperation of the leading states and international organizations can address the situation. In my opinion, the United Nations should make the most important step in containment of the growing threat posed by such a large and nuclear state. Today, Russia is one of the permanent members of the Security Council of the UN and has the right to veto. For that reason, it blocks every concrete decision that the organization makes in order to stop the growth of Russian aggression. I think that the UN should exclude Russia from the Security Council. Only after these actions, Ukraine will get a chance to get assistance from the international community. Russia will lose the possibility to turn every decision accepted by the rest of the worlds leaders in the convenient way.
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The second step I propose is the economic one. Despite all sanctions, which Russia faced and had to accept, the most important sphere is still working. The countries, who buy gas from Russia, should understand the importance of the complete rejection of the Russian gas and its replacement, for example, by the Turkish and Iranian product. The economic blockade could divert Russia from the predatory intentions.
In addition, the last but not least step that I propose is that the NATO should deepen cooperation with the countries neighboring with Russia, especially those that have been under a strong influence of the Kremlin for a long period, for example, Belarus. The strengthening ties of the NATO and these countries in the security sphere will certainly lead to the strengthening of the position of the alliance in the region. This will help to get closer to Russia to be able to contain its aggression immediately in any case.
Unfortunately, the countries neighboring Russia do not evaluate the situation wholly and believe that the aggressive mood of Russia is not a threat to their security right now. These countries do not consider it necessary to ask for help from the United States. However, if they decide to act so, it could be too late. Certainly, it will not be a right decision for the United States to start imposing our help, but it seems the most acceptable way to prevent the inciting of the conflict and its escalation into full-scale war involving many other countries.