NATO Background Guide

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Corey Barber
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1 NATO Background Guide As members of NATO you will be responsible for examining the Ukrainian crisis. NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an international organization composed of 28 member states from North America and Europe. It was established by the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949 to provide collective security for member states against the Soviet Union. Article five of the treaty states that if any armed attack occurs against one member of the member states it will be considered as an attack against all members, who will assist the attacked member by providing military forces for its defense. Since its inception NATO has had to continually redefine its focus as a military and political alliance to keep pace with the evolving nature of international threats. In recent years, NATO's purpose has expanded to include peacemaking missions and counter terrorism activities. The end of the Cold War in 1991 led to three major developments for NATO: the expansion of the organization to include new nations from the former Soviet Union, the re-imagining of NATO as a co-operative security alliance able to deal with European conflicts not involving member nations and the first use of NATO forces in combat. NATO further expanded its role to include the War on Terrorism after 9/11, which was considered an attack on the United States and invoked the mutual defense clause of the treaty. The Situation in Ukraine History of Ukraine The modern Ukrainian sate came into existence following the dissolution of the USSR in Since then, Ukraine has attempted to distance itself from its past as a member of the Soviet Union, however, its transition to democracy and statehood has not a stable one. The Ukraine faces numerous ethnic and political issues and, more importantly, a severe identity crisis. This is to say that Ukrainians, sandwiched between the European Union and Russia, have not fully determined if the course of their future development should move towards the East or the West. This ambivalence is essential to understanding the country s current problems. Russian Invasion of Crimea The ongoing international tension over the Russian annexation of Crimea has its origins in the decision of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to suspend negotiations with the European Union (EU) on the European Union Association Agreement in favor of establishing closer economic ties with Russia. In response to these events, protests erupted in Kiev, with demonstrators calling for internal government reforms, the resignation of Yanukovych and greater political and economic association with the EU. After months of violent clashes between 1

2 police and protestors, President Yanukovych was impeached by the Ukrainian Parliament and eventually fled to Russia. In February pro-russian gunmen began seizing key buildings in the Crimean capital, Simferopol and pro-russian rallies were held in several Ukrainian cities outside the peninsula. Simultaneously Russian military forces began moving into Crimea, allegedly to protect the rights of the Russian speaking minority in the region. Once in Crimea, Russian forces began to quickly overtake Ukrainian ships and military instillations throughout the peninsula. By March 24th the Ukrainian government ordered all of its remaining military forces to withdraw to the mainland. Prior to the crisis, Crimea was an autonomous republic of Ukraine of two million people with its own parliament and laws that permitted the use of the Russian language in everyday life. After the ousting of Yanukovich in February 2014, Crimea's parliament called for a referendum, in which the peninsula's 1.5 million voters opted overwhelmingly for union with Russia. Following that vote, Russian legislators passed a resolution nullifying Ukrainian laws in Crimea and putting in force Russian legislation. Parliament set a deadline of January 1, 2015 for the integration of Crimea's economic, financial, credit, and legal systems into the Russian Federation. The peninsula only became part of Ukraine in 1954, when Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev transferred it from the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in what was seen as a largely symbolic administrative move. The majority- Russian residents of Crimea continued to have strong ties with Russia. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the two new countries reached an agreement to permit the Russian Black Sea fleet to remain based at the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Overall, Russians make up an estimated 59 percent of the population of Crimea, Ukrainians make up about 23 percent, and Muslim Tatars about 12 percent. This decision was preceded by the Crimean referendum on March 16th in which allegedly 97% of voters supported Crimea's reunification with Russia. On March 21, Vladimir Putin signed a bill in the Russian Parliament to formally absorb the peninsula into the Russian Federation. Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula has resulted in strong international condemnation from western countries. The European Union and NATO member states have denounced both the referendum and Russia s annexation of Crimea, as illegitimate and illegal under international law; as the referendum took place without international monitors and under armed occupation. In response to these vents, the United States and the European Union have enacted travel bans and asset freezes against a number of officials from Russia and Ukraine. National leaders from the G-7 have demonstrated their displeasure over the situation by cancelling this year's G-8 summit in Sochi and expelling Russia from the group. Russia has retaliated by launching sanctions against a variety of G-8 countries including the United States and Canada. Fighting between Ukrainian military forces and rebel forces continued until September 5 th when a tentative truce was signed. There have been frequent clashes between combatants ever since. 2

3 Russian Interest in the Ukraine Russia has strong fraternal ties with Ukraine dating back to the ninth century and the founding of Kievan Rus, the first eastern Slavic state, whose capital was Kiev. Ukraine was part of Russia for centuries, and the two continued to be closely aligned through the Soviet period, when Ukraine and Russia were separate republics. Ukraine is also a major economic partner that Russia would like to incorporate into its proposed Eurasian Union, a customs bloc due to be formed in January 2015 whose likely members include Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Armenia. Ukraine plays an important role in Russia's energy trade; its pipelines provide transit to 80 percent of the natural gas Russia sends to European markets, and Ukraine itself is a major market for Russian gas. Militarily, Ukraine is also important to Russia as a buffer state, and was home to Russia's Black Sea fleet, based in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol under a bilateral agreement between the two states. Russia considers EU efforts to expand eastward to Ukraine, even through a relatively limited association agreement, as an alarming step that opens the door to others Western institutions. The EU's Eastern Partnership Program is aimed at forging tighter bonds with six former Eastern bloc countries, but Russia sees it as a stepping stone to organizations such as NATO, whose eastward expansion is regarded by Russia's security establishment as a threat. Ukraine belongs to NATO's Partnership for Peace program, but is seen as having little prospect of joining the alliance in the foreseeable future. Russian president Vladimir Putin has portrayed his country's role in Ukraine as safeguarding ethnic Russians worried by lawlessness spreading east from the capital, charges that leaders in Kiev dismiss as provocations. In the case of Crimea, Putin has stressed Moscow is not imposing its will, but rather, supporting the free choice of the local population, drawing parallels with the support Western states gave to Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. Shortly before moving to annex Crimea on March 18, Putin told the Russian parliament that Russia would protect the rights of Russians abroad. International Law Russia's actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine are in breach of international law, including the nonintervention provisions in the UN Charter; the 1997 Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, which requires Russia to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity; and the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. Signed by the U.S., UK, and Russia, that document provided security guarantees to Ukraine in exchange for relinquishing its nuclear arsenal. For its part, Russia has rejected charges that it is violating international law. In response to the developments in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, EU and US. policymakers have taken a series of steps that include: Economic aid: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the spring approved a loan package for Ukraine for $17 billion over two years. The EU has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars of an announced $15 billion support package for Ukraine, with payments conditioned on Ukraine 3

4 enacting tough reforms like ending gas subsidies. Washington has promised more than $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees and technical assistance. In late August 2014, German chancellor Angela Merkel pledged nearly $700 million in aid to help Ukraine rebuild war-damaged areas in the east and aid refugees. Economic Sanctions: The United States, the EU, Japan, and Canada have imposed sanctions on scores of Russian and Ukrainian officials and businesses said to be linked to the seizure of Crimea and the escalation in tensions. The measures include travel bans and the freezing of assets. The United States and European Union announced more severe measures in late July that blocked some Russian banks from US and European capital markets, and generally target Russian finance, energy, and defense industries. Russia was hit by a slowdown in growth and investment in the first quarter of 2014, and the scope of the new sanctions suggest a substantial, longer-term cost to the Russian economy. Russia retaliated by banning imports of food stuffs from the United States, Canada, and the European Union in July Energy aid: Some experts and US lawmakers have called for accelerating the approval of US natural gas proposals, which would take advantage of booming U.S. production to help lessen the reliance of European partners and Ukraine on Russian natural gas. U.S. law currently excludes the sale of natural gas to countries that are not free-trade partners, but the Energy Department can approve sales that are deemed in the public interest. But some analysts caution that even with the lifting of export restrictions, it could take years and cost billions of dollars to set up the necessary infrastructure. Military aid: The United States has bolstered NATO's air presence over the Baltic states and deployed about six hundred soldiers in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, as well as Poland to train with local forces as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve. Former, NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the crisis the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War, and reasserted alliance ties with Ukraine through the Partnership For Peace Program. Questions to consider: Are the measures currently in place adequate to resolve the situation? If not, do efforts need to be changed, increased, decreased, or ended all together? What is the role of the international community in this conflict? Which NATO member countries should bear the responsibility for dealing with this situation? 4

5 Key Terms and Acronyms (EU) European Union a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. Operates through a system of supranational institutions and intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states. (OSCE) Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe: The world's largest regional security organization, with 57 States from Europe, Central Asia and North America. (USSR) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: A Marxist Leninist state on the Eurasian continent that existed between 1922 and It was governed as a single-party state by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital. G-7 Group of 7 is a group consisting of the finance ministers and central bank governors of seven major advanced economies as reported by the International Monetary Fund: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States meeting to discuss primarily economic issues. The European Union is also represented within the G7 Partnership for Peace program is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) program aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union; 22 states are members The International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 188 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world. 5

6 Research Material Ukraine Crisis Timeline Ukraine in Maps: How the crisis spread Basics of Ukraine s crisis List of incidents involving Russian military & NATO since March 2014 NATO Chief: Russia's Actions in Ukraine 'Challenge' Security

PERSONAL INTRODUCTION

Forum: Issue: Student Officer: Position: Legal Committee The Referendum Status of Crimea Leen Al Saadi Chair PERSONAL INTRODUCTION Distinguished delegates, My name is Leen Al Saadi and it is my great pleasure