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SPECIAL REPORT
UKRAINE:
by Bob Greene
Author Greene overlooks Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol
In May of 2010, I sat in an outdoor
café in Odessa, Ukraine, soaking up
the spring air and the old-world charm
of the fading but elegant city. My
friends and I discussed a number of
problems facing Ukraine, but there was a
pervasive feeling of optimism that all was
manageable. In May of 2014, I sat glued to
my computer screen, watching dozens of
angry people rioting on the very same street
and then dying, trapped in a burning
building. How did the fortunes of Ukraine
change so dramatically?
Ukraine as a nation has only been
independent since 1991. Andrew Wilson
points to this when he describes Ukraine as
a state that is still fragile with no firmly
established sense of nationhood. Commentators
emphasize the same idea when
they point to the dramatic differences
between eastern and western Ukraine—a
geographical division roughly defined by the
Dnieper River.
The facts of the
current unrest are fairly
easily recounted. After
years of negotiation, on
Nov. 21, 2013,
Ukrainian President
Viktor Yanukovych
rejected an association agreement with the
European Union [EU]. At best, it would
have been a prickly arrangement and not
universally supported. However, in the
western part of the country, closer ties with
Europe were seen as Ukraine’s best hope for
political and economic development. The
eastern part of the country preferred
keeping closer ties with Russia.
The rejection led to demonstrations in
the Maidan (Independence Square) in
Kiev—peaceful at first, but then becoming
more violent and ultimately resulting in
deaths and the flight of President
Yanukovych from Ukraine Feb. 21–22. A
week later, Russian troops from the Black
Independence Square, Kiev
National Law Academy, Odessa
Sea Fleet in Sevastopol began
occupying Crimea. On March
16, Crimea voted to be annexed
by Russia. Since then, there
have been sustained seizures of
government buildings throughout
the eastern regions of
Ukraine by pro-Russian militias generally
thought to be actively supported by Russian
military elements.
How and why did the initial protests
spin so tragically out of control? Part of the
story is historical. Russia and Ukraine (as
well as Belarus) trace their historical origins
to the Kievan Rus who prospered in the first
millennium CE. Kiev and the Rus fell to the
Mongols in 1240. Russians believe that they
are the true inheritors of the Rus;
Ukrainians believe that they have an equal
claim to that history. Thus, in the minds of
many Russians, Ukraine is really part of
Russia, and the thought of an independent
Ukraine—much less one more closely
4 • Seasons • June 2014