How has Eastern Europe changed in recent decades? A historical review to understand the context of Ukraine

To understand the war between Russia Y Ukraine it is necessary to remember the history of the region. You have to know that the Russian Empire became, in the second decade of the 20th century, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a project that would end up falling apart between 1990 and 1991. The failure of the dream of its leader, Vladimir Lenin , gave life to fifteen independent republics, including Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.

READ ALSO: Putin threatens “lightning attack” on countries that support Ukraine

These nations are intimately linked with Russia -for example, many of them speak Russian-, an argument that takes Vladimir Putin to support their vision of the region. Many specialists agree that what the president is looking for is that the Kremlin be the beacon that illuminates them again; that is, influence them.

The 15 republics that were formed are:

The Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) are the ones that have moved the furthest from Russian influence, to the point that today they are part of the European Union and members of the NATO. The Sung Revolution it is vital to understand its history.

“El País” remembers it as an anecdotal event, when “hundreds of protesters from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania took to the streets to sing patriotic songs and Catholic hymns in their respective languages”.

There was repression, but the citizens prevailed, to the point that some gathered at the border between Estonia and Latvia to organize “the symbolic funeral of a swastika within a red star”.

In 1988, in Lithuania, the opposition political party Sąjūdis was formed which opposed the rulings of the USSR. “On February 24, 1990, he won the elections, and on March 11, a few months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Lithuania became the first Soviet state to declare its independence. The rest came cascading”, notes the Spanish medium.

And he adds: “It took almost a year for the world to recognize the three nations, at the end of 1991, mediating an attempt by Moscow to forcibly regain control of Latvia and Lithuania.”.

friends of the kremlin

Of the fifteen countries, six are the closest. Or, rather, five, because Ukraine has made it very clear that it does not want to have any further relationship with Russia. In fact, that is one of the reasons why it is currently invaded by Moscow.

But it was not always like this. Before, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan – countries that, for the European Union, formed the Eastern Association – did maintain good relations with the Kremlin.

READ ALSO: Poland and Bulgaria are the first victims of Russia in the gas war: Who is next and why is not everything good for Moscow?

Perhaps the most faithful Belarus, which was formerly the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was in July 1990 that he declared himself independent and, four years later, Aleksandr Lukashenko became president, a position he still holds.

Lukashenko is very close to Moscow and therefore does not hesitate to help Putin in his war.

Those who are not satisfied with their relationship with Russia are Moldova and Georgia. The former fears being invaded by Russian forces – who are striving for separation from Transnistria, a region that is already being attacked-; while the second was invaded in 2008.

On the relationship of these countries with Russia, France 24 writes:

“During the last three decades, [el Kremlin] has backed a pro-Russian regime in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria. In 2008, he launched a conventional invasion of Georgia in support of the separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two provinces with large Russian-speaking populations. Six years later, Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and began supporting an insurgency by pro-Russian separatists in Donbas.”.

On Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan“La Vanguardia” writes that “They didn’t have big demands.” independentists, which made “power would continue in the same elites”.

“That is why the influence of the Russian government is still very strong throughout the region.”

the other actors

Another great project that ended up disintegrating was Yugoslavia, a state that was based on the idea of ​​a single Slavic people. In fact, yug means “south” and slavija“land of Slavs”.

But what the dream did not take into account was that “Over time, national identities were formed, the majority ethnic groups that constituted the former Yugoslavia: Croats, Serbs, Slovenians, Bosnians, Macedonians, and Albanians”.

The BBC notes that “the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes adopted the name of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia – it is known as the first Yugoslavia – in 1929 until 1941. That year they were invaded by the fascist Axis powers”.

Who was the Yugoslav president, Josip Broz Tito, in full game of chess. Photo taken in October 1944, during World War II. AFP

The second Yugoslavia – whose name was the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – function between 1943 and 1991. That country, led by the dictator Josip Broz Titowas one of the creators of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Towards the 70s, unemployment and inflation became the rule and made nationalism come together in public life. Later, in 1974, the Constitution to guarantee “self-determination for each of the six Yugoslav republics”.

It was there that, within Serbia, the autonomous communities, Kosovo and Vojvodina, were created.

The problems spilled over into 1991, when Slovenia claimed its independence. It was followed by Croatia, which went to war with Serbia. Then it was the turn of Macedonia and, a year later, Bosnia and Herzegovinawhose capital sarajevo It was the scene of massacres.

Only in February 2008, Kosovo claimed its independence.

Currently, the countries that were created after the breakup of Yugoslavia are:

Source: Elcomercio