Russia–Ukraine relations
In 1932, 1933 Ukraine experienced the Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed up to 7.5 million Ukrainians. During the famine known as the Terror-Famine in Ukraine or Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, millions of citizens of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic died of starvation. Scholars disagree on whether natural factors or bad economic policies caused the famine, yet the Kyiv Appellate Court found Stalin, Kaganovich, Molotov, and other functionaries posthumously guilty of genocide against Ukrainians on the 13th of January 2010. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited the third largest nuclear stockpile in the world. The country possessed 130 UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missiles with six warheads each and 46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs with ten warheads apiece. These weapons totaled approximately 1,700 warheads remaining on Ukrainian territory. While Ukraine had physical control of the weapons, it did not have operational control because they were dependent on Russian-controlled electronic Permissive Action Links. In 1992 Ukraine agreed to voluntarily remove over 3,000 tactical nuclear weapons. After signing the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances among the U.S., the U.K., and Russia, Ukraine agreed to destroy the rest of its nuclear weapons. By 1996 Ukraine transferred all Soviet-era strategic warheads to Russia.
A major dispute related to energy supplies as several Soviet, Western Europe oil and gas pipelines ran through Ukraine. Up to 75% of annually consumed gas and close to 80% of oil came from Russia. Dependence was particularly strong in energy sectors where Russia remained Ukraine's primary market for ferrous metals, steel plate, pipes, electric machinery, machine tools, equipment, food, and chemical industry products. More than nine tenths of Ukraine's high value-added goods were historically tied to Russian consumers. With old buyers gone by 1997, Ukraine experienced a 97, 99% drop in production of industrial machines with digital control systems, television sets, tape recorders, excavators, cars, and trucks. On the 1st of January 2018 Ukraine introduced biometric controls for Russians entering the country. In June 2020 the State Border Guard of Ukraine expected that Project Wall would be finished by 2025, though the Border Service stated it had been completed in January 2022. The project cost almost $520 million and took four years to complete. Since the 30th of November 2018 Ukraine has banned all Russian men between 16 and 60 from entering the country with exceptions for humanitarian purposes. During the first 4.5 months of the visa regime, only 10 visas were issued and seven Russian citizens entered Ukraine.
On the 21st of November 2013 Yanukovych suspended preparations for signing an EU Association Agreement to seek closer economic relations with Russia. On the 17th of December 2013 Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed to lend Ukraine 15 billion dollars in financial aid and a 33% discount on natural gas prices. After the ousting of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in the Revolution of Dignity, Russian military men with no insignia wearing masks seized important buildings in Crimea including the parliament building and two airports on the 27th of February. Under siege, the Supreme Council of Crimea dismissed the autonomous republic's government and replaced chairman Anatolii Mohyliov with Sergey Aksyonov. In mid March after a disputed local referendum, Russia recognized Crimea as a sovereign state and proceeded to formally annex the peninsula. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Provisional Principal of Russia in Ukraine to present note verbale of protest against Russia's recognition of the Republic of Crimea. Two days later the Verkhovna Rada condemned the treaty and called Russia's actions a gross violation of international law. On the 19th of March 2014 all Ukrainian Armed Forces were withdrawn from Crimea while unmarked soldiers besieged them in their bases.
On the 24th of February 2022 the Russian army invaded Ukraine with ground and air assaults across many parts of the country including on the capital Kyiv. President Zelenskyy soon announced that Ukraine had cut all diplomatic relations with Russia. On the 5th of March 2022 according to the Russian RIA news agency, Russia's foreign ministry urged European Union and NATO members to stop supplying arms to Ukraine. Moscow is particularly concerned that portable anti-aircraft Stinger missiles could fall into terrorist hands posing a threat to planes. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War since February 2022. On the 30th of September Putin signed decrees which annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts of Ukraine into the Russian Federation. The annexations are not recognized by the international community and are illegal under international law. During the invasion Dmitry Medvedev publicly wrote that Ukraine is NOT a country but artificially collected territories and that Ukrainian is NOT a language but a mongrel dialect of Russian. In July 2023 Medvedev claimed that Russia would have had to use a nuclear weapon if 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive was a success.
In December 2015 Ukrainian lawmakers voted to place a trade embargo on Russia in retaliation for the latter's cancellation of the two countries free-trade zone. Russia imposed tariffs on Ukrainian goods from January 2016 as Ukraine joined the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU. Since 2015 Ukraine has banned Russian artists from entering Ukraine and also banned other Russian works of culture from Russia as a threat to national security. Russia did not reciprocate. According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine the number of Russian citizens who crossed the Russia, Ukraine border dropped by almost 50% in 2015. On the 5th of October 2016 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine officially recommended that its citizens should avoid travel to Russia due to Russian law enforcement's growing number of groundless arrests. A poll conducted in April 2022 found that 91% of Ukrainians do not support the thesis that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. The vast majority excluding Russian-occupied territories reject the idea of unity between the nations.
In opinion polls taken before 2014, Russians generally said they had a more negative attitude towards Ukraine than vice versa. Polls in Russia have shown that after top Russian officials made radical statements or took drastic actions against Ukraine the attitude of those polled worsened every time. In February 2019, 82% of Russians had a positive attitude towards Ukrainians but only 34% of Russians had a positive attitude towards Ukraine and only 7% of Russians had positive attitude towards the leadership of Ukraine. Some observers noted what they described as a generational struggle among Russians with younger Russians more likely to be against Putin. According to an April 2015 survey by the Levada Center when asked What should be Russia's primary goals in its relations vis-a-vis Ukraine the most common answers were restoring good neighborly relations at 40% and retaining Crimea at 26%. On the 21st of March 2023 the Ukrainian parliament passed a law that forbids having toponymy with names associated with Russia. In the law's explanatory note it stated this was a ban on assigning geographic objects names that glorify perpetuate promote or symbolize the occupying state.
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Common questions
What is the historical origin of Russia and Ukraine relations?
Kyiv functioned as the capital of Kievan Rus, a polity that united most East Slavic tribes and adopted Byzantine Orthodoxy between the ninth and eleventh centuries. Both Russia and Ukraine claim their heritage from this medieval state ruled by the Varangian Rurikid dynasty.
When did the Holodomor famine occur in Ukraine and how many people died?
In 1932, 1933 Ukraine experienced the Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed up to 7.5 million Ukrainians. During the famine known as the Terror-Famine in Ukraine or Famine-Genocide in Ukraine, millions of citizens of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic died of starvation.
Why did Ukraine give up its nuclear weapons after the Soviet Union dissolved?
While Ukraine had physical control of the weapons, it did not have operational control because they were dependent on Russian-controlled electronic Permissive Action Links. In 1996 Ukraine transferred all Soviet-era strategic warheads to Russia after signing the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances among the U.S., the U.K., and Russia.
What happened during the annexation of Crimea in 2014?
On the 27th of February unmarked soldiers seized important buildings in Crimea including the parliament building and two airports. On the 19th of March 2014 all Ukrainian Armed Forces were withdrawn from Crimea while unmarked soldiers besieged them in their bases.
When did the Russian army invade Ukraine in 2022 and what territories were annexed?
On the 24th of February 2022 the Russian army invaded Ukraine with ground and air assaults across many parts of the country including on the capital Kyiv. On the 30th of September Putin signed decrees which annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts of Ukraine into the Russian Federation.