Today
we are going to talk about a very
Important topic from your examinations
point of view that is the significance
of donbass region this topic is very
important from the perspective of
prelims specifically geographical and
also means gs means paper to because
this is a topic for international
relation and if you’re a political
science student of course
this is going to be very important for
you from your
papers from your mains paper option
paper point of view so let’s begin and
look at
the different subtopics that we are
going to discuss over here so i’m not
going to just hop on the background on
and on i will talk about the current
scenario and of course
i am going to be as brief as possible i
will make it crisp as possible i can and
you have to make sure that you build on
the structure i am giving you here so
what is the news now vladimir putin the
president of russia he has signed a
decree which recognizes
two independent republics in luhans and
donetsk that is ukraine’s donbass so
luhansk’s people republic people’s
republican dunes people’s republic are
now according to russia a separate
entity they do not belong to ukraine
anymore what does this mean what does
this mean for russia for the world it
means that russia now can supply troops
and it can also supply arms to these
regions the the region by the name of
donbass under the pretext of saying that
ukrainian government
is being aggressive in donbass so in
order to protect donbass this decree has
been signed and douma that is the lower
house of russia it has supported this
decision the defense secretary the
defense minister everybody was in favor
of this what does this mean for india
what does this mean for the world in
general what does this mean does this
mean war let’s see so before we begin
with anything just remember one thing
that this is an agreement which has been
signed between vladimir putin the
president of russia and the rebel groups
of the donbass region we will talk about
donbass first because until and unless
you know what is donbass what will you
understand so
this is for the people who have no idea
about donbass
donbass is basically the southeastern
region of ukraine
it according to russia is now a separate
entity okay so
culturally historically linguistically
it is very similar to ukraine but it is
a mixed population
area you can say
this area donbass donesques
and new hanks now according to the
degree donesks people’s republic and
luhans people’s republic this is a
different entity and this has been given
a thumbs up by russia of course the only
thumbs up to be given so donbass region
is a region which after the 2014
annexation of cremia when krima was
annexed by russia there was a lot of
unrest in these regions okay donetsk and
new hampshire so what happens that
these two regions they were pro
separators they did not want to get
linked with ukraine
and because of that they were considered
a separate entity a separate entity by
russia and this was basically the
separatist region
separatist okay remember this so these
were pro-russians
russia always kept an upper hand in
ukraine with the help of creamy and
unmiss okay so now these two regions are
supported by russia to be a separate
entity russia can
amass troops over here coming closer to
ukraine it can give weapons to this
region and that is not that is a grim
situation for the world many countries
such as china india many other countries
they are trying to calm the situation by
saying that please practice restraint
and if from geographical perspective it
is asked which
c
lies near donbass c of a zone c of azo
is lying in between ukraine the donbas
crimea and of course
tell me in this segment a common segment
what is
this region called okay what region is
this
i hope you are able to see the what
region joined c for zovat black c tell
me in the comment segment okay so this
is
because of of course the ukrainian
crisis wise
vladimir putin doing so because of the
crisis that is happening in ukraine the
simplest thing i can put here is russia
does not want nato
or nato to expand
beyond its according to russia’s own
process of thinking that it should not
go beyond
certain countries which are near to
russia and ukraine is one of those it
also wants nato to
have an agreement between the states
which were considered a part of nato
after the year 1997. so this is
something that russia has been saying
but it as um us and
ukraine were not listening to it it is
doing so so the situation is very grim
let’s see what happens now and if we
talk about the arm buildup this is a map
i have attached for you to understand
what is the arms buildup
very important for you to understand why
it is
for us for us as indians it is a grim
situation because we are dependent on
energy we are dependent on
many things right now from the central
european region and we have many
investments with respect to russia many
many investments india wants to have
with respect to russia and that is why
it is important for us to understand
okay so we have talked about that in
2014 uh large suites of donbass became
grip
with unrest because they wanted
to have an understanding with the
russian with the russian population they
did not want to be associated with
ukraine so this was one thing secondly
there was also the
signing up of
minx deal
in the year 2015 this is not 18
2015. to have restrained to have proper
peaceful process of an agreement when it
comes to territorial attitudes but that
did not happen it was basically a
ceasefire agreement but that did not
happen so russia state duma has already
asked and urged putin to recognize the
independence of the two regions now
moscow
had issued eight
hundred thousand russian passports to
donbass
red residence which was by an order of
april 2019 so if they were not getting
passports they were not getting proper
identification to travel from ukraine
russia started to do so this was the
first step towards justification of that
region that yes we consider you as a
part also russia directly finances
pensions and public sector salaries in
eastern ukraine’s two separatists region
that were
hanks and dunes because after the war
the ukrainian government stopped giving
them any sort of financial support so
that was another thing both the
separatist region they have abandoned
the ukrainian currency of hyrunya and
that was in favor of
russian ruble so that was the third step
this is how russia and the two
separatist regions came together in 2021
the dunes people’s republic marked
rashadi on june 12th in showing their
sentiments these two regions were ready
they were very open that yes we consider
ourselves russians and then in late 2021
putin ordered the russian government to
lift curbs on any sort of import and
exports of goods between russia and
parts of the donescan luhang’s region
basically in order to show support that
yes we are supporting you financially we
are ready for investment okay also
united russia which is a party
pro-russian party in ukraine it
campaigned in eastern ukraine on
territory controlled by moscow-backed
separatists before a parliamentary
election in september 2021. also local
authorities in dunes they said in
january 2021 that russia had begun
supplying its sputnik
vaccine which was not at all
in consonance with the ukrainian
government because ukraine did not want
to import
vaccines from russia
because of the western alliances they
had okay moving on if we talk about the
significance
first we need to understand the
significance of donetsk and luhans
the region as a lot because they are rich in
coal also
it might surprise you that although the
coalfield which extends through the
east to russian territory it is the
fourth largest in europe but the problem
is that it needs a lot of investment to
get it
the cost benefit analysis basically the
investment should be in such a manner
because this region is not very
beneficial when we talk about the cost
benefit analysis a lot of investment
might go but a lot of
what do you call it a lot of return may
not be possible because of the
low economic capacity of the region so
first is that then from the perspective
of defense we need to understand that
the steel which comes from these two
regions are very important for russia so
numerous companies in eastern ukraine
they provide important raw material and
products to russia especially for
russian space and defense industry and
we all know that
how does russian defense industry work
the name they have got for themselves
by supplying their ammunition and arms
to the world specifically to regions
such as india as well countries such as
india as well we know that how important
of a defense sector for russia is then
also we talk about sovereignty and
security as i told you that russia does
not want
nato to move
towards its borders which is happening
estonia lithuania through all these
countries russia wants restraint from
nato’s point of view so that is
something that we need to understand
because russia does not want the
presence of u.s near its region that is
why it is insecure and that is why by
recognizing these two territories that
is coming closer and closer to ukraine
maybe
it is i don’t know but let’s not hope
it’s a war
moving on because we cannot afford a war
right now right so on the indian economy
energy
the prices of oil crude oil are already
shooting up can you tell me in the
comment segment uh at what year high
they are at
so first that secondly
the uh the specificity right now we can
see with respect to energy is very
dangerous
very dangerous why because we are
getting back on the track omicron did
wreak havoc but it did not wreak as much
havoc as delta did so we we are trying
as an economy to get back on track if
it’s something of
even a small-scale word occurs
which is in the process i hope not but
it still is
so what will happen investments will
fly away from those regions because
people will try to
protect their investments and not invest
more in regions which are very crucial
for energy supply and that if that
happens that is already happening if
that happens at a much larger scale it
will recover for india and there will be
distortion in energy prices we already
know that
india is walking a tightrope when we
talk about balancing its ties with
russia and ukraine and u.s so it is a
very tough job for india india has been
a leader of the non-aligned movement
non-alignment movement but is it really
possible in this century when india is
gaining significance on the global map
with respect to having a very versatile
approach towards democracies
let’s talk about that as well because
this this is a missed opportunity for
india missed opportunity why why am i
saying this as you can see russia
ukraine crisis u.s scrambles to mount
response after putin’s announcement
diets china
now here the problem is it
did talk to india but it is seeing china
is getting closer to russia china might
have
what do you call it
that much of clout politically maybe
through its deal which happened in the
winter olympics that it can talk to
russia and why not india why not india
why india was not seen from the similar
perspective so it was a missed
opportunity for india right now
india never wants to talk about internal
matters this is something that india has
done since a long period of time
why do we say that we do not welcome
outside comments in our internal matters
every country is different
every country has their constitution
every country has their own history so
india is very firm on its standpoint
when it says we do not want to talk
about somebody else’s internal matters
india is saying that we want restraint
and that is that has been welcomed by
russia india has said that we do not
need
to have rhetorics we should practice
quiet diplomacy
so first thing is that and if we talk
about the sanctions which u.s has
imposed worrisome
not a lot but a bit why because one
thing that we need to keep in mind right
now as we are discussing it us has not
imposed sanctions on russia u.s has
imposed sanctions on the two newly
independently created or recognized
regions by russia that is
luhans and donetsk so what does this say
first of all let’s read out what does
this say the sanction
executive order on blocking property of
certain persons
and prohibiting certain transactions
with respect to continued russian
efforts to undermine the sovereignty and
territorial territorial integrity of
ukraine so any financial support any
investment support or any trade cannot
take place
from persons of u.s origin from persons
of us no origin from people from u.s in
the donbass region this has been said so
u.s warns that
russia does not capitalize on the gains
which it can
by recognizing these two regions as
republics so
keep that in mind not
on russia but of course on the on the
regions which have been created but it’s
a problem for india because india if
this grows into a full-fledged war india
has signed four defense agreements with
russia
russia is a time-tested friend of india
russia has
supported india russia has stood by
india and it still stands by india with
respect to
the narratives india has for its own
country so first that we cannot lose our
friends such as russia also in the far
east region of russia india has
has actually it has it is determined to
invest in the russia’s paris region
which is rich in natural gas and oil so
i
we all should hope that we cannot afford
a war right now china
cannot china is also very firm on its
stand when it say we cannot afford a war
right now because this is a
post-pandemic i hope this is a
post-pandemic world where every country
needs to have their own outlook towards
dedicating their approach and getting
back together not tearing each other
down so quiet diplomacy the russian
envoy onward to the u.n has said the
at the emergency meeting of the unsc
that we are ready for diplomatic talks
but when it comes to sovereignty we will
take every measure as possible so this
is very important for us to understand
that every country has their own
sovereign issues which could be solved
with the help of diplomacy because
they are saying that in retaliation to
the sanctions that the u.s has put they
will come with their own sanctions the
word is not ready for sanctions not at
all we have experienced the trade war we
have experienced the kovit 19 pandemic
for the economy the investment is going
down we have seen the investment the
sentiments of the investors in the stock
market how the stock market is going
touching new laws so that is not
something that we are looking forward to
let’s have a look at our question okay
so why is donbass region of ukraine
important for russia discuss the
implications of sanctions imposed by the
us on russia with respect to the recent
decisions of russian donbass