Part 4 - Q&A with Professor of Russian Victoria Somoff

JS: Following up on Crimea, I understand the largest, or the most important part, is the naval bases in the Crimea, such as at Sevastopol. Do you think by the end of this crisis, Russia will resort to extreme measures, such as igniting a war in Ukraine with other parties like Ukraine, the European Union or the United States, in order to annex the Crimea? Russia used to have control of the Crimea, up until Khrushchev handed the Crimea to Ukraine. Do you think Putin will make a power play to retake the Crimea from Ukraine?

VS: I think that’s what he’s trying to do. That is what he’s trying to do right now. And I think the world is stunned in a way by what he is doing, and I think that’s why it’s so hard at this point to figure out what will happen. I think that everyone is very concerned, troubled and shocked by what he is doing. I think his intention is clear, although I’m not sure about the form of his specific vision, but moving military troops into the territory of an independent sovereign country is aggressive. 

He has a pretext. He tried to make his case in front of the safety council of the United Nations that he’s protecting the Russian population of Ukraine and that he wants to take the area under control, that Yanukovych is the legitimate president and that Yanukovych asked him to intervene. His intention is very clear. 

He’s not firing any shots yet, but he’s moved his military. He’s blocked military bases. He’s blocked airways. What’s happening is disturbing on so many levels. There are constant reports that say no one really knows. He does want to partition, maybe annex, the Crimea. 

He might even want to create disturbances in other areas of Ukraine like Donetsk, and there are lots of reports about what is happening in eastern Ukraine, saying that pro-Russian activists are suddenly becoming more powerful and active and that they were quiet and mostly talking during the protests but now they feel supported and encouraged. Putin’s ambition may go ever farther but what would happen depends to a great degree on how the world responds.