Weekly issue #2

 

Article 1: The antisemitism animating Putin’s claim to ‘denazify’ Ukraine https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin-ukraine-attack-antisemitism-denazify -The Guardian

Article 2: Kiev regime’s leaders to be inevitably punished https://tass.com/defense/1412703- - TASS

 

Since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, conflicts between Russia and Ukraine have been ongoing for the past 8 years. However, the tension escalated when Russia launches a full-scale military invasion into Ukraine’s North, East and South on the 24th of February 2022. Russian President, Vladimir Putin announced this news on television, declaring it as a “special military operation” and started what could be the largest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.

Ukrainian civilians flee as bombs strike the city

 

I’ve come across this issue through social media and television and have found 2 articles regarding this topic. One of which is from an Australian news source, The Guardian; and the other is Russia’s largest state-owned news agency, TASS. Both articles have provided information on the invasion and possible explanations as to why Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine.

The article by TASS mainly reiterates Putin’s televised speech. It shows neither support nor condemnation towards the invasion and is very objective. However, the article has only included opinions from Vladimir Putin and the Defence Military spokesman of Russia, who both strongly advocate the attack on Ukraine. This suggests that this article is written in favour of Russia due to its lack of perspectives.

On the other hand, the article by The Guardian is more subjective, also including quotes from Putin’s televised speech, this time, with a negative viewpoint towards his actions. The author does this by justifying why the Russian President’s promised national restoration is not what he has claimed.

Vladimir Putin declaring the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine on Russian state television.

 

In TASS’s article, the Defence Military spokesman of Russia claims that they have launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine to “track down and punish” Kiev regime’s ringleaders and Ukrainian Nazis. Further, TASS’s article has included Putin’s quote on how the sole purpose of the attack is to “demilitarise” and “densify” Ukraine. Vladimir Putin also states that the Russian forces will not be attacking cities and “the civilian population is not at risk”. However, this is far from the truth as more than 210 Ukrainian civilians have been reported dead as the result of the missile rain.

Contrarily, the author of The Guardian’s article argues that Putin’s claim to ‘denazify’ Ukraine is due to antisemitism. This is because Ukraine’s president is a Jewish who came from a family partially wiped out in the Nazi Holocaust; while Putin is referred to as a “fascist autocrat” who “imprisons democratic opposition leaders”. The article then goes into detail explaining the term “antisemitism”; and how those who embrace Russian Christian nationalist ideology (such as Vladimir Putin) will be especially susceptible to it. Thus explains the Russian President’s action as well as the words he used to justify it.

My opinion definitely aligns with the article from The Guardian. However, I believe that there are more than one factor leading to the invasion on Ukraine. For example, Ukraine has gas and oil which could threaten Russia's dominance as the key energy supplier to Europe. Also, Vladimir Putin may have wanted to prevent a potential membership of Ukraine in NATO since he has always been opposed to the idea. Nonetheless, war cannot be justified for any reasons, and unfortunately, the ones to pay the price are innocent civilians.