International Relations This Week: Episode 63

International relations is a very important segment of the UPSC syllabus. In this series, we present an
analysis of the most important international issues and developments that occurred over the past week
relevant for the IAS exam. In this article, you can learn more about the Russia – Ukraine crisis, the latest
developments between Turkey and Ukraine.

Video link: https://youtu.be/OENgBGAjn_k

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Ukraine-Russia Conflict
2. Turkey Ukraine Crisis

1. Ukraine-Russia Conflict

Context: This article examines the criticality of sanctions being imposed on Russia and the role of
NATO in the crisis.
Image source: Al Jazeera

Sanctions:

What is a sanction?

 A sanction is a penalty imposed by one country on another, often to stop it from acting aggressively or
breaking international law.
 Sanctions are often designed to hurt a country's economy, or the finances of individual citizens such as
leading politicians.
  They are among the toughest measures nations can use, short of going to war.

What are Economic Sanctions?

 Economic sanctions are defined as the withdrawal of customary trade and financial relations for foreign
and security policy purposes.
 Sanctions may be comprehensive, prohibiting commercial activity with regard to an entire country, or
they may be targeted, blocking transactions by and with particular businesses, groups, or individuals.
 Sanctions take a variety of forms, including travel bans, asset freezes, arms embargoes, capital restraints,
foreign aid reductions, and trade restrictions.

When are sanctions used?

 National governments and international bodies such as the United Nations and European Union have
imposed economic sanctions to coerce, deter, punish, or shame entities that endanger their interests or
violate international norms of behaviour.
 Sanctions have been used to advance a range of foreign policy goals, including counterterrorism,
counternarcotics, nonproliferation, democracy and human rights promotion, conflict resolution, and
cybersecurity.

What are Smart Sanctions?

 Smart Sanctions are targeted sanctions intended to be directed at individuals, companies and
organizations, or restrict trade with key commodities.
 The following instruments can be applied: Financial sanctions, Trade restrictions, Travel restrictions,
Diplomatic constraints, Cultural and sports restrictions, Air traffic restrictions.

Sanctions on Russia

 Hindering Russia's Central Bank

o The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have limited the ability of
Russia's Central Bank to draw on more than $600 billion in foreign currency reserves.
o That has left the bank with few tools to prop up the rouble and prevent it from crumbling in value.
 Russia cut from SWIFT
o The West has cut key Russian banks out of a financial messaging system known as SWIFT.
o The EU finalised a list of banks it would remove from SWIFT which included seven Russian
banks but excludes two of the country's largest banking institutions.
o Russia has declared that kicking it out of SWIFT would be equivalent to a declaration of war.
 Cutting Russia off from technology
o The US said that it would limit exports of technology such as semiconductors to Russia, and
allies in Europe and Japan cooperated in the move.
o The US announced that it would extend export controls to Russian oil refineries and Belarus.
o However, the restrictions could simply cause Russia to turn to China to meet its needs for those
devices and their components.
 Energy sanctions
o Exports of oil and natural gas are vital to Russia's economy, but those products have largely been
spared sanctions because Western leaders are wary of moves that might hurt their own
consumers.
o Oil prices have already moved higher since Russia's invasion.
 o The US is clearly worried about rising gasoline prices heading into the mid-term elections this
year, having announced the release of oil from the federal Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
 Aerospace closures to Russian airlines
o The United States closed its airspace to Russian airlines.
o The move came, however, only after the European Union and Canada had already barred Russian
planes.
o Aerospace closures are having a much greater impact in Europe, with neutral Switzerland and
Sweden also choosing to follow the example of other European nations.

Role of NATO in Russia-Ukraine Conflict

 What is NATO?
o The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was established in 1949 by the US, Canada and several
Western European countries to ensure collective security against the Soviet Union.
o It was America’s first peacetime military alliance outside the Western Hemisphere.
 o
o Image source: BBC

 NATO's open-door policy with Russia

o
o After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Eastern European military alliance, the Warsaw
Pact, disbanded in 1991.
o However, there was disagreement over whether that was an alternative to NATO membership or
a pathway to it.
 o In 1997 NATO and Russia signed the "Founding Act" on mutual relations, cooperation, and
security, and the NATO-Russia Council was founded in 2002.
o Moscow received access and a permanent presence at NATO headquarters in Brussels. But this
exchange has been largely halted since Russia's attack on Ukraine in 2014.
o NATO maintains an open-door policy to “any other European State in a position to further the
principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic".
 Who controls NATO?
o The Military Committee, NATO's highest military authority, is in charge of NATO's Command
Structure (NCS).
 Why is Ukraine not a member of NATO?
o
o Ukraine is formally not a member of NATO, but it has long wished to join.
o In 2002, Ukraine's former president, Leonid Kuchma, indicated an interest in joining NATO.
o NATO formed a Ukraine-NATO Commission in 1997, which allowed for discussions on security
matters and allowed the NATO-Ukraine relationship to progress without a formal membership
agreement.
o NATO's support is restricted without membership. It does not, for example, commit to sending
troops to non-member countries.
o It has, however, dispatched troops to neighbouring nations and expressed public support for
Ukraine.
 What does Russia want from NATO?
o Ukraine's separation from the Soviet Union and ties with NATO are at the root of the current
tensions.
o Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO moved eastward to include Baltic republics
such as Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which were originally part of the Soviet Union.
o As a result, NATO, which was formed to fight the Soviet Union, drew closer to Moscow,
bordering it directly.
o Russia issued an eight-point draft security pact for NATO by the end of December 2021. The
proposal included conditions such as prohibiting Ukraine from joining NATO, limiting NATO's
future expansion, and prohibiting drills in the region, among others.

2. Turkey Ukraine Crisis

How has Turkey responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?

 The Turkish government has designated the Russian invasion as a “war,” giving it the right under the
1936 Montreux Convention to close the Bosporus Strait to warships.
 Although this action applies to any naval vessel, it is clearly aimed at Russia’s fleet in case Moscow seeks
to reinforce the firepower it already has there.
 Turkey’s decision is an important symbolic one in support of Ukraine.

What’s behind Turkey’s response?

 Though Turkey voted for a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia, it has not sanctioned
Russia or closed its airspace to Russian aircraft.
 Some observers have been quick to highlight the differences between Turkish policy and the definitive
pro-Ukraine approaches of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),
 implying that Ankara is trying to have it both ways—remaining rhetorically committed to Ukraine’s
independence and offering to mediate the conflict while tilting toward Russia.
 There is some logic to this, especially after the purchase of the Russian-made air defense system known
as the S-400.