Part 8 - Q&A with Professor of Russian Victoria Somoff

JS: Do you foresee Ukraine splitting into smaller countries as a result of this crisis?

VS: I don’t think it would split. The areas, even though we might see a majority of Russians or a majority of Ukrainians, it’s mixed. They’re not monolithic. They’re so many ties between people there. There are no neat lines that you could draw that could split. There are differences, but in any country, there are some differences. Cultural, ethnic, linguistic, ideological, but they’re not the reasons to split up. There are all these negotiations with different interests. I don’t see how Ukraine could be split up. As I said, the people who participated in the protests were of all ethnicities. And once again, for Putin, that may be one of his inspirations. For him, it works to think of Ukraine as being an artificial construct that can break along ethnic and cultural lines. That’s what he hopes to do. That demonstrates his deep-seated notion of thinking Ukraine is not really a state. By exercising military force and instigating disturbances in eastern areas, that obscures the picture. If he continues doing that, and if he is allowed to continue with it, then yes, partition would be possible, but it would not be because of Ukraine made the choice. It would be because Putin decided it. Without him in Ukraine, I don’t think Ukraine would split. There are no clear lines that it could follow.

JS: Do you think Russia will retaliate against U.S. citizens living within Russian territories, such as deporting them or restricting their visas?

VS: Once again, if he continues and doesn’t to listen to scenarios and causes Russia to enter some kind of Cold War, then he might. He might put restrictions on peoples’ travel and whether they can enter or exit Russia. If this becomes ideological warfare, it becomes quite possible that he might restrict visas. He’s already targeting certain journalists. As you might know, there were some cases where journalists weren’t allowed to enter. So something like this can easily happen. The first thing he might do is he might limit Russians’ ability to enter and exit, which is now a complete norm. But if he starts building an iron curtain again, then yes, absolutely. He could do that and make it difficult for Americans.