An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir October 2014 www.dfmagazine.ie 22 | By PAUL O'BRIEN O n 17th July 2014, Malaysian passenger airliner Mh17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, disappeared from radar at 3.20pm GMT in ukrai- nian airspace. Eyewitnesses reported that the airplane was engulfed in a ball of flame before falling from the sky. All 283 passengers and 15 crew members perished. The route the plane had taken was over an area of intense conflict in the Donetsk region. The plane was flying at an altitude of 10,600m when it was allegedly hit by a surface-to-air missile. Both sides of the conflict on the ground, Russian separatists and the Ukrainian military, disavowed any responsibility for the at- tack, with each side blaming the other. It is believed that a Buk anti-aircraft missile system or a S-300 was the weapon used to down the aircraft. The Ukrainian military have such weapons in their arsenal. While the separatists deny possessing any heavy weapons, many people believe that regular Russian forces aiding and supporting the separatists supplied them with the weap- ons and expertise to down the plane. Ukraine's defence minister, Valeriy Heletey, stated on 21st August that the insurgents were using Russian-made weap- ons that had never been used or purchased by Ukraine's armed forces. Russia's involvement in the crisis stems from its support of former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, who, in November 2013, rejected greater integration with the EU and postponed the signing of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. (Historically, a political and cultural fault-line divides Ukraine, with the west of the country generally pro- Western while the east looks more towards Russia.) Mass protests followed in the capital, Kiev, and other cit- ies throughout the country. The majority of protesters held liberal, pro-European opinions, and were also protesting against government corruption. Serious clashes resulted in the deaths of protesters and police officers. The crisis escalated on 22nd February 2014 when Presi- dent Yanukovych fled Kiev. The Ukrainian parliament deposed him the next day and in the following week ap- pointed an interim president, Oleksandr Turchynov. Following the ousting of Yanukovych and his government, a secession crisis developed in the autonomous Crimean region of Ukraine where television reports showed masked gunmen seizing control of military bases and strategically- located buildings in the region. These forces, described by Russia as 'local defence units', were later identified as Rus- sian special forces. Despite international condemnation, separatists pushed ahead with a referendum in Crimea on seceding from Ukraine in favour of joining the Russian Federation. (Crimea had been part of the Russian Empire since the late 18th century and was only 'gifted' to Ukraine in 1954 by Secre- tary General Krushchev in recognition of the 300th anni- versary of Ukraine becoming part of the Russian Empire. In the most recent census, in 2001, 58% of Crimea's population was recorded as being of Russian ethnic origin, as against 24% Ukrainian.) The referendum was passed (according to the organisers, 98% of those who voted were in favour) and Russia moved quickly to integrate Crimea politically and economically. It also increased its military presence in the region; with Russian president Vladimir Putin declaring that a military task force would be established there. uKRAINE in

• Cover