Ukraine

 Second largest country in Europe  West – close ties with European neighbors  Nationalistic sentiment  Minority are Russian, or speak Russian as first language  Especially in industrialized east  Crimea  Was part of Russia until 1954  Russian Black Sea fleet located there

Crimean Tatars  Stalin accused them of collaborating with the Nazis  A Turkic ethnic group  Deported to central Asia in 1944  Many have returned

 Stalin enforced agricultural collectivization  Aimed to wipe out capitalism  Part of the New Economic policy  Famine and death to millions  Devastating purge  Raised grain quota, not enough food to feed peasants

WWII  Many welcomed the Germans as liberators from Soviet rule  Many fought hoping Hitler would grant them an independent state  Nazis used Ukrainians for slave labor  2.5 million fought for the red army  5.3 million died during the war  2.25 million Jews were killed  After the war, Stalin deported tens of thousands to Siberian prison camps and executed thousands more

Chernobyl   Result of a flawed reactor design  Steam and fire explosion released 5% of radioactive reactor core  2 people died at the scene, 28 in the next few weeks  Large proportion of childhood thyroid cancer

Independence  August 24, 1991  90% voted to declare independence from the Soviet Union  Rapid economic decline and inflation  Leonid Kuchma  Steady economic recovery but criticized for too much Russian interest  2004  Attempt to rig election led to “Orange Revolution”

Orange revolution  Mass protests for rigged election  European Union mediation and re-run of the election  Prime minister Viktor Yushchenko ( )  Some democratic reforms  Divided public slowed nation and EU membership  Re-oriented foreign trade policy toward Russia  Clamped down on media freedom and had opponents jailed

Economy  Trade with EU exceeds that with Russia  Russia largest trading partner  Depends on Russia for gas supply  2006 and 2009, Russia cut gas supplies and forced Ukraine to pay more  Depends on steel exports

Economy  2008 crisis  Loan by the international monetary fund for $16.5bn  2010, further loan of $15bn frozen  Government failed to implement financial reforms  Recent moved to an EU agreement and EU membership fueled tensions with Russia

Viktor Yanukovych  2010 election  Canceled a trade deal with the European union  Driven out of office by pro-western demonstrators in November 2013  Deaths of 88 protestors by snipers in a 48 hour period led to his downfall  Fled to Russia in February  New elections to be held in Kiev

Articles  Read the two article about the Crisis in Ukraine and the referendum  Do you think the west should impose sanctions?