Illustration by Emily Wang/The Gazelle

As a Ukrainian who cares strongly about the situation in my country, I have been following the news on the events in Ukraine closely since the protests began in November. The article in the March 2 issue of The Gazelle last week, “Tensions flare amid Crimean crisis,” left me with the impression that the situation was not presented accurately. Although the stated facts were quite precise, the commentary provided by some of the students interviewed demonstrated strong bias towards the version of the events that has been propagated by the Russian media. It is important to consider multiple perspectives and the motivation behind the biases in Russian media in order to have a clearer understanding of the situation. Several students have said that Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine is motivated by the need to protect Russians in Crimea. That is the main narrative adopted by the Russian government and its biased media. Since the beginning of the protests in November, the situation in Ukraine has been greatly misrepresented in Russian media. Some Russian journalists have claimed that all protesters are extremists or terrorists coming from the west of Ukraine, using violence against the riot police that are providing order. In reality, people came to the center of Kyiv from not only the western region of the country but all regions to stand up for their rights and their desire to live in a well-developed democratic country.

I have several friends directly involved in the protests in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine. Calling them and millions of people who are standing up for their rights “terrorists” is simply outrageous. A video of riot police snipers killing defenceless protesters on Feb. 20 was viewed across the world. That day, one of the main Russian channels, “Pervyi Kanal” reported that it was actually the “radical protesters” themselves dressed in riot police uniforms who killed their fellow protesters just to blame it on the special police forces.

Concerning Russia’s recent military intervention into Crimea, an autonomous republic within Ukraine, it is safe to say that such intervention is unreasonable and illegal.

The claim that the rights of Russians in Ukraine are, or potentially might be, violated does not have any support. According to the 2001 National Census, there are over 130 different ethnicities residing on the territory of Ukraine with the biggest groups being Ukrainians at 78 percent, and Russians at 17 percent. The law of Ukraine on national minorities clearly states: “The state of Ukraine guarantees equal political, social, economic and cultural rights to all the citizens regardless of their nation of origin and ethnicity”. The newly established government of Ukraine is acting in accordance with this law. There has not been any precedent of violation of the rights of Russians or any other ethnic minority in Ukraine. The only reports of violations of the rights of Russians appear in the Russian media and have no evidence to support them. The same goes for the discrimination against the Russian language in Ukraine, which is an idea completely made up by the Russian media. Coming from the west of Ukraine where, according to the Russian media, all the extremists who discriminate against Russia live, living almost all of my life in that part of Ukraine I have never encountered any instances of discrimination of the Russian language or of ethnic Russians in my personal experience nor reported by local media. Therefore Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that Russian military intervention in Ukraine is intended to protect Russians is unfounded.

Furthermore, the intervention into Crimea is illegal. In 1994 Ukraine signed The Budapest Memorandum with Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom, in which Ukraine agreed to eliminate the nuclear weapons it possessed in exchange for guarantee of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity provided by the three countries. One of the points of the memorandum stated that the aforementioned countries would not use weapons or military forces in Ukraine under any circumstances. Current military intervention in Crimea is a direct violation of the memorandum.

  It is evident that the Ukrainian revolution is not desirable to Putin. Having Victor Yanukovych as president of Ukraine was very convenient for Putin as the former served as a political marionette in Putin’s hands, and when he fled Ukraine in February, it made the Kremlin uneasy. The new government that the people fought for in the protests is not likely to follow the same path. Therefore Putin chooses to claim that the establishment of the new government was an anticonstitutional coup initiated by terrorists. He continues to insist that Yanukovych is the legitimate president of Ukraine, even though Yanukovych has been impeached by a unanimous vote in the Ukranian parliament and is currently considered to be “an individual hiding from the state authorities,” according to the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Ukrainian protests are also dangerous for Putin because if they succeed, people in Russia might take it as an example and attempt to overthrow Putin and his government. Therefore Putin is doing everything to prevent this from happening. Denying Russian people access to objective information on the situation in Ukraine is one of his strategies.

The most recent events are probably what would be the complete opposite of Putin’s intentions. Instead of splitting over language, ethnicity or the best foreign policy, people all over Ukraine are uniting against the threat of separatism and a war with Russia. Ukrainian TV channel 5 Kanal, one of the few channels reporting the news objectively and which is currently blocked in Crimea, reports that thousands of people all over Ukraine, including Eastern pro-Russian regions, came out to the streets this week to support the unity of Ukraine and in protest of Russian military. Many countries, including the Group of Seven major industrialized nations, support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity with officials from the European Union and the United States stating that sanctions will be used against Russia should conflict turn violent.

I truly hope the conflict will be resolved peacefully, Russian troops will leave the territory of Ukraine and Ukraine will continue the development it embarked on as a result of the continuous protests.