Russia Won’t Stop

U.S. Tank in Riga, Latvia (source: www.bbc.com)

“In Russia, we always thought that Russians and Ukrainians were one nation. I think so now, too. - Putin.” According to the Fox News article, U.S. to Train 750 Ukraine Troops as Russian Aggression Continues by Lucas Tomlinson published on March 20, 2015, this is what Russia president, Vladimir Putin, declared on March 18 to “tens of thousands of supporters outside the Kremlin in Moscow.” Moreover, Putin has signed another treaty with South Ossetia in Georgia, yet another separatist group area. He did this to try to broaden Russian influence even more. This is very alarming in my opinion. This is another demonstration of power-hungry Russia trying to expand its influence in Europe.

What steps has Russia taken?

What is even more alarming is that “Putin called his Navy’s Northern Fleet to full combat readiness in exercises in Russia’s Arctic.” This includes fifteen submarines, 76,000 soldiers, and forty-one warships. This move by Putin is no coincidence. This is very dangerous and threatening to the world, including the U.S. because Russia’s Arctic is relatively close to the U.S. (Alaska). Moreover, Russia claims that they will “deploy long-range, nuclear-capable strategic bombers to Crimea and state of the art missiles to Kaliningrad.”

How has the rest of the world reacted?

Russia’s moves are a growing concern for NATO. Recently, it has “scrambled jets Tuesday from Estonia and Lithuania to intercept a group of 11 Russian aircraft.” The U.S. has also has also taken precautionary steps. Starting on March 21, the U.S. Army (European Command) declared that it would send out 600 troops and many Stryker combat vehicles on a 1100-mile convey throughout six different Baltic countries. The U.S. and the rest of the world needs to be very careful in the steps they take. They don’t want to do something that would cause Russia to retaliate in an extreme and devastating way. This situation is very tense, and it would be best if things got resolved soon and peacefully before this becomes an even larger, more dangerous conflict.

Further Research/Questions:
1. Has Russia/the rest of the world retaliated in any more ways?
2. Do other countries have the right or duty to intervene in the conflict?