MISSING CONTEXT: Territorial disputes not the root cause of Russia’s attack on Ukraine

At a glance

• Claim: Territorial disputes are not the root cause of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. 
• Rating: MISSING CONTEXT
• The facts: As early as 2014, tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been escalating when Russia annexed Crimea. Crimea was made part of Ukraine when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic collapsed. 
• Why we fact-checked this: The post has been shared over 2,300, times with over 8,000 reactions.

Complete details

A Facebook post circulating with the caption trying to depict Vice President Leni Robredo as ignorant of international affairs: “the ïdi0➕ just likened the philippines to ukraine also anong pinagsasasabi nyang wps (West Philippine Sea)? hindi naman territorial dispute ang ugat ng russia-ukraine conflict.” 

(The idiot just likened the Philippines to Ukraine. What is she saying about the West Philippine Sea? The root cause of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is not a territorial dispute.)

This claim is missing context.

As early as March 2014, tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been escalating when Vladimir Putin “reclaimed” Crimea for Russia. The annexation of Crimea by Russia began when masked forces took charge of Crimea’s government buildings. Putin initially rejected that these armed men were his soldiers, but has since then admitted to the fact. 

In 1954, Crimea was transferred to Ukraine as it was an oblast (region) under the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. At the time Ukraine was submitted to Russian rule. In 1991, under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Crimea was made into an independent state. With the dissolution of the USSR and Ukraine’s independence, however, Crimea was once again made part of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s borders, which at that time included Crimea, were guaranteed under The Budapest Memorandum, which was signed in December of 1994 by Russia, Ukraine, and the United States of America.

The Russian President justified his move on the breaking of The Budapest Memorandum and annexation of Crimea as an act to protect Russian ethnics and Russian speakers in the region, which made up approximately 60% of the region’s residents. – Renzo Arceta/Rappler.com

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