This page will be an effort to curate as much verified information regarding one of the most top of mind news topics today: the Russia/Ukraine conflict. For context, Russia and NATO have long running animosity and encroachment issues despite the collapse of the Soviet Union. In other words, the main motivation behind the existence of NATO has disappeared making aggression towards Russia a hard sale for any follower of that basic history.
For its part, NATO has tentatively extended membership to several countries surrounding Russia over the past few decades including Ukraine. The placement of missiles in Turkey, the provision of advanced jet fighters to the Ukraine and provision of similar items to both Finland, Sweden have left Russia understandably nervous. Add to that context, the fact that there has been a deployment of foreign military powers to both Georgia and Afghanistan, one can understand (not justify) why Russia is marking a clear red line in the region.
Here is one summary that does appear to capture the current moment. This content is a snippet from Bloomberg News published today, March 2, 2022:
” How does Putin justify a full-scale invasion?
Bloomberg News
Putin and his allies increasingly began to accuse the Ukrainian government of “genocide” against Russian speakers in the Donbas breakaway regions, an unfounded allegation wholly rejected by Ukraine as well as U.S. and EU states. In fact, the fighting between separatists and the Ukrainian military, particularly in the year after the Crimea fallout, left an estimated 14,000 people dead. Russia and Ukraine consistently accused each other of not adhering to the Minsk accords, peace deals brokered by Germany and France that sought to end the violence and establish a political settlement. Fulfilling Minsk would have empowered the Russian-speaking breakaway territories through de-centralized authority, potentially giving the Kremlin veto power over national policy shifts such as joining the EU or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Days before the invasion, Putin effectively scuppered Minsk by officially recognizing the separatists’ self-styled republics. On Feb. 24, he justified the invasion by proclaiming an objective of “demilitarization,” presumably dismantling Ukraine’s military capability, rendering it incapable of defending itself — and unable to join NATO. He said another aim was “denazification” of the country. “
In other words, the current invasion of Ukraine stems from both very global encroachments of Russia and a lack of compromise with its much weaker neighbor. Seeing NATO’s aggressive regional expansion left it with no other choice.
Additionally, RT appears to suggest that not contextualizing the current police action is giving Western outlets the ability to justify more exaggeration such as claim that there is a distinct invasion underway:
Western media outlets, including the New York Times, previously reported that Russian troops were stationed in Transnistria during the buildup to last week’s invasion of Ukraine. The US and NATO last month proposed that Russia remove its forces from Transnistria as part of an agreement to ease security concerns in Eastern Europe.
Fox News acknowledged that Transnistria is controlled by “pro-Russian separatists” and has a Russian military presence, but the outlet made no attempt to reconcile how it could also be an attack target for Moscow. Some outlets, such as The Hill, suggested that Transnistria is an attack target without mentioning that it’s a Russian ally.