Ukraine

Ukraine

Second largest country in Europe

West – close ties with European neighbors Nationalistic sentiment

Minority are Russian, or speak Russian as first language Especially in industrialized east

Crimea Was part of Russia until 1954

Russian Black Sea fleet located there

Crimean Tatars

Stalin accused them of collaborating with the Nazis

A Turkic ethnic group

Deported to central Asia in 1944

Many have returned

1923-1933

Stalin enforced agricultural collectivization Aimed to wipe out capitalism

Part of the New Economic policy

Famine and death to millions Devastating purge

Raised grain quota, not enough food to feed peasants

WWII

Many welcomed the Germans as liberators from Soviet rule Many fought hoping Hitler would grant them an independent state

Nazis used Ukrainians for slave labor 2.5 million fought for the red army

5.3 million died during the war

2.25 million Jews were killed

After the war, Stalin deported tens of thousands to Siberian prison camps and executed thousands more

Chernobyl

1986

Result of a flawed reactor design

Steam and fire explosion released 5% of radioactive reactor core

2 people died at the scene, 28 in the next few weeks

Large proportion of childhood thyroid cancer

Independence

August 24, 1991 90% voted to declare independence from the Soviet Union

Rapid economic decline and inflation

Leonid Kuchma Steady economic recovery but criticized for too much Russian

interest

2004 Attempt to rig election led to “Orange Revolution”

Orange revolution

Mass protests for rigged election

European Union mediation and re-run of the election

Prime minister Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010) Some democratic reforms

Divided public slowed nation and EU membership

Re-oriented foreign trade policy toward Russia

Clamped down on media freedom and had opponents jailed

Economy

Trade with EU exceeds that with Russia

Russia largest trading partner Depends on Russia for gas

supply

2006 and 2009, Russia cut gas supplies and forced Ukraine to pay more

Depends on steel exports

Economy

2008 crisis Loan by the international monetary fund for $16.5bn

2010, further loan of $15bn frozen

Government failed to implement financial reforms

Recent moved to an EU agreement and EU membership fueled tensions with Russia

Viktor Yanukovych

2010 election

Canceled a trade deal with the European union

Driven out of office by pro-western demonstrators in November 2013 Deaths of 88 protestors by snipers in a

48 hour period led to his downfall

Fled to Russia in February

New elections to be held in Kiev

Articles

Read the two article about the Crisis in Ukraine and the referendum

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