Vladimir vs. Volodymyr. Crimea's Annexation and its Role in the Light of Classical Realism

Essay from the year 2020 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: International relations, grade: 1,0, University of W rzburg (Institut f r Politikwissenschaften und Soziologie), course: Die Theorien der Internationalen Beziehungen - Wegweiser zum Verst ndnis von Weltpolitik, language: English, abstract: The question of why Russia has engaged in the Ukraine crisis inevitably emerges from the events described. Moscow's interference in Ukraine creates an opportunity to explain it theoretically by the concept of classical realism. That is the aim of the following paper. The 2014 opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics was supposed to be the defining moment of the presidency of Vladimir Putin, showing the world a resurrected Russia and fueling his prominence at home. Little was put to chance - Russia doped its athletes and flaunted with their gold medals as if they were the spoils of war. During this time, Ukraine found itself in a deep political crisis. Viktor Yanukovych, the former President, declined to sign the Association Agreement with the European Union, leading to widespread demonstrations in Kiev. In February 2014, the situation on the Maidan worsened. The dispute led to the deposition and ultimately to Yanukovych's flight. Riots in Crimea, where pro-Russian rebels demanded the independence of the peninsula from Ukraine, broke out in reaction to the political upheaval in Kiev. The celebrations in Russia quickly turned into anti-Western outrage, stirred up by the state propaganda media; and the Sochi Olympics gave way, within days, to the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Donbas. Today, the annexation's medial relevance has faded. Russia's invasion of Crimea, however, cut off its ties with the Maidan and the West; and Ukraine still wants its territories back. In his inaugural address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, current Ukrainian president, trumpeted that " b]oth Crimea and Donbas are Ukrainian lands". Yet Russia has the regions tightly