In 1991, a war that lasted for 46 years without smoke finally ushered in its end, and among the two giants facing each other, one side finally could not drag its huge body and fell down.
But the human body will turn into dirt, but the state will not.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most left was weapons. Some scattered weapons, such as the well-made and world-renowned AK47 rifle, were quickly sold worldwide by soldiers and officials at cabbage prices for profit;
The larger ones were to be divided up by the independent countries, and this included the Red Flag Black Sea Fleet, which was once one of the strongest fleets of the Soviet Union.
01 A place where soldiers must fight
The geography of the Black Sea dooms it to be a place where peace is difficult.
The Black Sea borders Romania and Bulgaria to the west, Russia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Ukraine, which has the longest coastline in the Black Sea, to the north.
It penetrates deep into the European continent and is connected to the Mediterranean Sea through the Turkish Strait.
Whether it is trade or military, it is an important sea that connects these countries with the world, and as long as the Black Sea is controlled, it can bring great restraint to the shipping trade of neighboring countries.
As early as 1753, Empress Catherine II of Russia had prepared a fleet on the Black Sea, and by 1784, various then advanced ships had entered the port of Sevastopol for the first time.
Subsequently, the Old Black Sea Fleet participated in many wars, including the First World War, and whether it was victorious or defeated, this fleet was never abolished, and its ownership was always an important issue after the war.
In 1921, the Soviet Union was founded, and the leaders rebuilt the Black Sea Fleet, in order to strengthen the Strength of the Black Sea Fleet, the Soviet Union invested a lot of money and manpower in it.
In the 1960s, the anti-submarine helicopter carriers "Moscow" and "Leningrad" were built, and the Black Sea Fleet was on duty in almost all the seas of the world.
The Black Sea Fleet was the only Soviet all-weather fleet that was not afraid of a frozen siege, which greatly strengthened the combat strength of the Black Sea Fleet, and in 1941, the Black Sea was the first main battlefield of the Soviet-German war.
In this Great Patriotic War, the Black Sea Fleet fought bravely, and countless young people with enthusiasm and ambition burned their young blood in this sea to defend their homeland.
More than a million soldiers and civilians on the island resisted to the death, dragging most of the German troops back, and even if they were occupied, they never gave in.
"In times of war, the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet took off their black tweed uniforms, and your descendants used grenades to blow up tanks, and went forward to follow and sacrifice their lives."
This Soviet military song tells the blood shadow and glory of the Black Sea Fleet for a hundred years.
No matter how many times it has been reorganized and newly built, this fleet has always been a powerful and prestigious fleet.
During the Tsarist period, the Black Sea Fleet was once the third largest in the world navy, and after the reconstruction of the Soviet Union, it belonged to one of the four major fleets of the Soviet Union, loyally guarding the port of the red giant.
Crimea, on the other hand, is the cornerstone of this fleet' survival, especially the port of Sevastopol, also known as the gateway to the Black Sea.
The headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet is located here, and its ownership and retention will directly affect whose banner this fleet is on.
02 The Harbor of Throats
Crimea is predominantly Russian and Ukrainian, and although it is close to Ukraine and Russia, Crimea still has a history of independent statehood.
However, during the period of powerful Tsarist Russia, Crimea was annexed by it, and even after it belonged to Russia in 1918, it maintained its own name as an autonomous republic.
In 1946, perhaps because of its size difference from other federal states, the Soviet Union abolished the title of Autonomous Republic of Crimea and replaced it with a state.
Unlike ordinary countries, the Full Name of the Soviet Union was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and it was also the only national federation in the world that was not named after ethnic groups and regions.
Thus, although Eastern Ukraine had been gradually merged with the Russian Empire since 1654, and in 1795 all of Eastern and Western Ukraine had been annexed to Tsarist Russia, in 1922 it was still joined the Soviet Union as a federal state, essentially more free in the Ukrainian region than in the provinces under the unitary state.
In 1954, on the good days of the three hundred years since the unification of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, in order to show the sincerity of the two places willing to always be of one heart and one mind, Khrushchev, then the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, gave Crimea as a gift to Ukrainian jurisdiction, but planted a time bomb for the future Ukraine.
However, Crimea had always been under the control of the Russian Empire, and by this time, the islanders were almost all Russians.
According to later local crimean surveys, it can be seen that the Number of Russian speakers in Crimea is far greater than the number of Ukrainian speakers, and even less than 10% of people watch Ukrainian radio stations compared to Russian TELEVISION and radio subscriptions.
Therefore, if the Soviet Union could not maintain its strong strength and firmly unite these regions, then the occurrence of conflict was almost predictable.
However, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the vast empire was divided, Crimea rightfully joined Ukraine as an autonomous republic, maintaining its continued administrative coherence.
However, Russia, which inherited the most legacy and the most messes of the Soviet Union, immediately stopped doing it.
At that time, Khrushchev dared to directly assign Crimea to Ukraine, but the reason was that No matter who it belonged to, Crimea was always part of the central government.
But partitioned Russia still has a vast and vast land to the east of Crimea, and the loss of Crimea is equivalent to losing control of the Black Sea and free access to the Mediterranean, which makes it more difficult to contain a series of U.S. deployments in Europe.
What makes Russia even more unhappy is that even if the Black Sea Fleet is divided into Russia, without Crimea, without the port of Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet will be useless.
Even sharks can't hunt on shore, and even heroic ships can't run on land on their legs.
Therefore, whether it is military or trade, Russia can not easily give up the competition for Crimea, however, for Ukraine, which is weaker than Russia, once Russia is allowed to station troops in Crimea at will, it will be more difficult to breathe as if it is choked in the throat, so it is even more impossible to give in.
Ukraine's leaders have been entangled with Russia's leaders for six years over the control of Crimea, during which time Crimea has been a no-man's land, and even the Black Sea Fleet still hangs the red flag symbolizing the Soviet Union.
03 Who holds the blade?
In the early days of disintegration, Russia and Ukraine even fought an order war to gain control of the Black Sea Fleet.
In October 1991, the Ukrainian hierarchy quickly passed a resolution to place the Black Sea Fleet under Ukraine's ownership.
In 1992, Ukrainian President Kravchuk signed the order "On the Transfer of the Black Sea Fleet to the Administrative Jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine".
On the other hand, Not to be outdone, Yeltsin also signed the order "On the Transfer of the Black Sea Fleet to the Jurisdiction of the Russian Federation" in April 1992.
The leaders of both sides use the supreme authority of one country to show each other their toughness, and both sides try to win more chips for themselves.
In June of the same year, after a series of strategic negotiations, the leaders of both sides finally sat at the negotiating table.
The negotiations ended with joint command of the Black Sea Fleet between Ukraine and Russia, which has since become a combined fleet of Ukraine and Russia.
However, due to the disparity in national strength, this balance was soon upset.
As Russia was desperate to regain the jurisdiction of the Black Sea Fleet, the leaders of russia and Ukraine signed a memorandum in Masandra, Crimea, in less than a year, in which Russia regained full jurisdiction over the Black Sea Fleet in the afterglow of red wine.
But the protracted tug-of-war between the two sides has not ended.
In 1994, Ukraine proposed a phased approach to the Black Sea Fleet and regained the jurisdiction of some of the Ships of the Black Sea Fleet, with the infrastructure assigned to Russia, but it was still difficult for the two sides to agree on ports where the warships would be moored.
Sevastopol, the hero's port, was once again thrust to the forefront years after the end of the Great Patriotic War.
The presence of the main warships of the Russian-controlled Black Sea Fleet here is a serious problem for Ukraine, but Ukraine does not have enough tough strength to make Russia unconditionally back down.
For Russia, the domestic waste is waiting to be revived, the social problems left over from the former Soviet Union also need to be solved urgently, the economic development, the people's turmoil and confusion are a handful of firewood outside the pressure furnace, and if you are not careful, it will ignite the entire society, so Russia does not want to completely offend Ukraine.
But Russia's attempts to occupy Crimea and the Black Sea Fleet have never been dashed.
During Yeltsin's administration, he repeatedly tested Ukraine's position on Crimea, and even proposed a plan for "dual citizenship" of local residents, which was rejected by Ukraine.
Perhaps the once "intimate" downplayed the fact that the negotiations were taking place between two independent sovereign states, and the ethnic issues in Crimea became an obstacle to Ukraine's defense of itself.
So although Ukraine has repeatedly stressed that such an approach is tantamount to an infringement of Ukraine's sovereignty and territory, Russia's pace has never stopped.
In terms of people's feelings, the integration of many people in Ukraine and Russia has long been bloody, but on the issue of nationality, the people of the two countries also have many different views and tendencies.
In addition to these subjective feelings, objectively speaking, Ukraine's grain needs to be exported, Russia's natural gas must also be paid for, and the two countries have to take into account these factors in the confrontation of the break.
Only profit is the eternal "truth."
In this way, while giving in to the problems of the Black Sea Fleet and Crimea, ukraine and Russia made a big jump in tango, while cooperating more in economic and trade, neither of them wanted to really tear their faces.
In 1997, after years of negotiations, Ukraine and Russia finally reached an agreement, and Russia was able to enjoy the use of most of the Ships of the Black Sea Fleet and important ports at the cost of energy and huge rents.
20 years of use, everyone understands, this is the deadline for another confrontation.
20 years is enough time to change too much, during which Time Russia gradually reorganized the Black Sea Fleet from a beautiful medal and a great merit, gradually restoring its combat effectiveness, while Ukraine's economy was slowly declining due to its turbulent political situation.
The Ukrainian people, perennially plagued by division and unrest, have erupted into great dissatisfaction with the government, and the management plan for crimea has changed overnight.
This resort for Eastern Europeans, the strategic rivalry between Ukraine and Russia, is difficult to manage effectively.
In addition to political reasons, the evil consequences sown by the previous dynasty are also quietly emerging.
In 1944, Stalin punished many Tatars on the island of Crimea with a harsh charge of "collusion with Hitler's occupiers" and forced them to emigrate.
But the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed these people to return home with great hope, only to be surprised to find that it was no longer what they once lived.
On this small island, Ukrainians, Russians, and Tatars began to live together, but ethnic contradictions gradually emerged, which was undoubtedly the last step for Ukraine before being a general.
In 2010, Ukraine continued to tighten the entry and exit control of the Russian army, and the agreement on the renewal of the lease of the port was restricted, as if to say that after a maximum of thirty years, the port would be completely used by myself.
Pro-European or pro-Russian when the Ukraine crisis erupted in 2013?
This issue will determine the fate of Ukrainians.
On March 18, the pro-Russian population in Crimea gained the upper hand and, without the permission of the Ukrainian central authorities, relied on Russian support to introduce Crimea to Russia and become a member of Russia as a federation.
04 The judgment of fate is finalized
However, if this matter is established, it will mean that Ukraine will completely lose its legitimate rights and control in Crimea, and the series of treaties signed with Russia will become a dead letter.
After all, you can't lend something that doesn't belong to you.
The Crimea incident greatly shocked the United States and Europe, and some people even speculated whether the new Cold War would be staged again after the financial crisis swept the world, and Ukraine accused Russia of violating the territorial sovereignty of other countries.
At this delicate point in time, however, no matter how aggrieved Ukraine may be, it will be difficult for countries around the world to give it the assistance it wants.
In addition, the United States has proposed economic sanctions against Russia, in addition, the United States, which is deeply trapped in the battlefield of Southeast Asia, will not easily send troops, and European countries have not even woken up from the nightmare of economic crisis.
If they also want to participate in sanctions, their economies will be unsustainable.
The wood has become a boat.
At this point, both the Black Sea Fleet and the port of Sevastopol were in fact under Russian control.
There may be giants falling in the world, but the strife between humans will never stop.