Reflections on the Ukraine crisis

Things started to look alarming when Russia took Crimea, using their usual, very well-rehearsed tactic of military aggression backed by misinformation. The difference between Finland and Estonia is that Finland did not undergo the 50 years of Soviet occupation that ruined Estonia’s economy, as well as the economies of other countries under the Soviet yoke. That said, Finland was a part of the Russian Empire and Russians are not in the habit of forgetting and surrendering land they firmly think as belonging historically to them.

The very same tactic that was used in Crimea and is now being used in Ukraine, consisting of pop-up ‘republics’ asking for assistance and Russia responding to said requests while naturally occupying the rest of the country also, can easily be adopted in Estonia where there are many ethnic Russians and especially the inhabitants of the border regions who belong to the Russian infosphere tend to have their loyalties towards Mother Russia instead of the more Western-oriented Estonia where they happen to live in and enjoy the benefits of.

Russians tend to consider themselves as God’s chosen people who have a mission in this world. A good indication of this mindset is that while the rest of the world calls the latest global war World War III, Russians call it the Grand War for the Fatherland.

It has been said that Ukraine with its rich and proud history and its historic city-states, such as Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv, was the beginning of civilised Russia, which then was removed from its roots and ravaged by the Mongols. It stands to reason that a country that has lost its identity would want it back at any cost to prove its succession and back its greatness. I believe the Russians are trying to write a narrative that would prove their superiority.

Russians have always needed access to waterways, which is why Peter I ‘cut a window to Europe’. Estonia has a long shoreline with many strategically placed islands, some of which still host Soviet military installations. The distance from Kyiv to Tallinn is some 1300 kilometres, from Kaliningrad only 700 kilometres. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact once sold the Baltic countries to Russia. Even if history does not repeat itself, it can often rhyme, as Mark Twain once said.

Pastor Allan Taruste is from St Matthew’s Latvian congregation.