Russia's balancing acts in the 2014 Ukraine crisis

Subject Areas : International Relations

Ali Mousaei ¹ (Ph.D. in International Relations. University of Isfahan.)
Enayatollah Yazdani ² (Associate Professor of International Relations, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. Associate Professor of School of International Studies, Sun Yat-sen University, Z)
Mohammadali basiri ³ (Associate Professor of International Relations, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.)

Received: 2022-07-04 Accepted : 2023-07-03 Published : 2023-05-22

Keywords: Russia, balance of threat, the West, Black Sea. Crimea Peninsula, Ukrainian Crisis,

Abstract :

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine has always been the scene of Russia-West competition due to its identity, geopolitical, geo-economic and economic importance, and has witnessed serious conflicts and various political-security crises. The 2014 Ukraine crisis, which began with Russia’s pressure on Ukraine to refuse to join a free trade agreement with the European Union, eventually led to the annexation of the Crimean peninsula to the Russian Federation could also be considered in the context of the same competitions between Russia and the West. A competition that not only started the crisis and annexed Crimea to Russia; Rather, it sharply increased tensions between Russia and the West. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to answer the questions that why did Russia decide to annex the Crimean peninsula to the Russian Federation, and what effect did this annexation have on the balance of power in the Black Sea region? In this article, with a qualitative method and analytical approach, the research questions in the conceptual context of the balance of threat theory have been examined using library resources. The findings of the article show that the elimination of threats from Ukraine's possible membership in the European Union against Russia's security and national interests has been the reason for Russia's decision to annex Crimea to the Russian Federation. This annexation has also changed the balance of power in favor of Russia vis a vis the West in the Black Sea region.