Can someone explain to me why Russia have actually invaded Crimea? I know that most of the population of Crimea identify themselves as being ethnically Russian and that Crimea's new leader has asked for assistance from Russia. But why? What is the threat to the people of Crimea and why do they need 'protecting' by Russian forces? Are there tensions between Crimea and the rest of the Ukraine or something? I'm a bit out of the loop, so I appreciate someone filling me in!
Well there's two views to this at least in the realm of what the different sides are claiming in public (in private any number of possibilities could be reason.) Pretty much on the Russian side they are claiming they are going to protect their significant naval bases on the Crimean peninsula (Crimea is part of Ukraine) and also to protect ethnic Russians/slavic peoples. On the Ukrainian side they are claiming this is an invasion of their sovereignty.
One must understand a little bit of culture and history though to fully grasp this. Before the Soviet Union, The Russian Empire did in fact control much of Ukraine along with the Crimea, which is their crown jewel on the Black Sea. In fact taking the Crimea is one of the biggest achievements of Peter the Great. Also historically Crimea is important to Russia as this is where they famously slaughtered the Light Brigade during the Crimean War against Britain, fought against the Ottomans, Napoleon, and nazis, all of which were major and important victories for Russia. Not only that but for Crimea's strategic location, in the Russian mindset retaking Crimea is a top priority both culturally and as a matter of imperialist practicality as the Crimean Peninsula is one of history's most important strategic naval locations. Aside from this Russia sees itself as the protector of the race of Slavic Peoples. This is the reason why WW1 started is because Austria retaliated against Serbia which is mostly slavic, and Russia declared war on the Austrian Empire because Russia sees itself as the overlord of the Slavs. This naturally caused Germany to declare war on Russia and Britain and France to declare war on Germany. So we can see how easy it is for one little incident to spiral out of control, this is the main worry with the current situation in Crimea.
On the other hand the Ukrainians themselves enjoy their own unique cultural heritage and after the collapse of Tsarist Russia had a short-lived independence before they were conquered and forced into the Soviet Union. The Ukrainian Partisan faction in WW2 fought against both the nazi and soviet occupations. One of the big reasons for the break up of the Soviet Union was the idea of Ukrainian independence and when the USSR did break up Russia even signed agreements with countries like Ukraine that state they will respect their national sovereignty. Also after the dissolution of the USSR Ukraine was the third biggest nuclear power in the world but due to an international treaty they surrendered their nuclear stockpile in exchange for an agreement with Russia to respect their territorial integrity. After the USSR broke up Ukraine was still somewhat dominated by proxy by Russia but much of that changed thanks to the Orange Revolution in the 2000s. Plus with Ukraine's strategic location there is much pro-Western European culture as well as pro-Russian culture.
Really though what this mostly comes down to is; What is Putin playing at? Putin has been in power since the first day of 2000. So he has held power for quite a while. Putin has made aggression on his neighbors before (2008 against Georgia during olympics.) However last time Putin was told to back off strongly by America and Europe and so he did back off. This time Putin has invaded Crimea in a similar under-handed fashion and no one is really doing anything about it. Putin is a slick player and very intelligent given his KGB background. He is also very nationalistic. Either Putin has grown ambitious in his logn reign of power or he is legitimately trying to either help the slavic peoples of Crimea or take Crimea alone as an attempt to rebirth the Russian Empire.
Really depending how Putin plays this just from this act alone either he will be remembered either on par with Peter the Great for retaking Crimea (plus more glory for doing it swiftly and without firing a shot) or this is a dark parallel to when the West appeased Hitler and the weak response of the West will only foster his imperial ambitions.
Good question though! And remember this is only my analysis and I am just a poor peasant lol. However here is some resources you can use to learn more about some background information on Crimea, Ukraine, and Russia.
(general info on Ukraine courtesy of the CIA)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/up.html
(General information on Crimea courtesy of wikipedia)
Crimea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(outline of the international treaty Russia has violated regarding Ukrainian sovereignty)
Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
