In 2014 Russia seized the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, which was a Russian colony until 1991. Since then it has waged a proxy war against Ukraine through right-wing Russian-nationalist forces in the east of the country.
Since the start of November maybe 175,000 Russian troops have massed within striking distance of the Ukrainian border. Russia is moving weapons and equipment to the area.
There seems little doubt that the Ukrainian government has committed human rights abuses in the eastern conflict zones. So have the Russian-nationalist rebels. To give a sense of the scale, the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner reports 18 civilians killed up to September 30 this year, and 21 in the same period of 2020. The 18 included 11 killed in mine-related incidents and attempts to safely detonate explosive devices.
When Vladimir Putin absurdly talks of “genocide” in eastern Ukraine, he is trying to prepare Russian and international opinion for an invasion, or promote the idea he might invade in order to gain leverage in the crisis talks Russia is holding with the US.
The Ukrainian government is a right-wing, neo-liberal regime and, despite Ukraine’s history of oppression, Ukrainian nationalism has often been bigoted and reactionary. We support the left-wing, internationalist political forces struggling against both. The rights of the Russian people in Ukraine should be respected and the eastern areas with high proportions of Russians should have reasonable autonomy.
We are against Ukraine joining the US-led military alliance NATO. We reject the idea that the Baltic states joining NATO justifies Russian threats against them, and anyway Ukraine joining is not likely any time soon; but talk of it as a future possibility is used by Putin as an excuse for his troop movements. Equally, we were against earlier NATO expansion in eastern Europe, are against UK membership of NATO, and are in fact against NATO’s existence.
But one major reason for support within Ukraine for joining NATO is precisely the threat Russia poses.
The immediate issue is Russia’s infringement, and potential much greater infringement, of Ukraine’s national rights. The Ukrainian people have a right to defend their independence and self-determination.
• From 2014: Why socialists should side with Ukraine against Russia
• Ukraine Solidarity Campaign
