Proposer: Gwyddion Williams
The war in Ukraine began in 2014. It was and is a war of secession and a regional civil war. A war occurring within several oblasts (regions) that Lenin and Khrushchev made part of Soviet Ukraine. Crimea was moved from Russia only in 1954.
The rights of those incorporated in a newly sovereign Ukraine in 1991 were threatened in 2014. Extremist politics undermined what had been expected when Yeltsin forced the issue by deciding to withdraw Russia from the Soviet Union.
Large regional majorities in Ukraine had been content to be an overall minority when others were reasonable. But their wish to maintain Russian traditions and language was threatened by the 2014 seizure of power in Kiev. That seizure also violated Ukraine’s constitution.
Ukraine’s constitution has been violated again by Zelensky continuing to rule after May 2024 without a new election.
Before 2022, the Donbass oblasts were willing to settle for autonomy. The government of Ukraine agreed to a referendum on this with the Minsk Agreements, but it never happened.
At the time of the Russian invasion, there was a widespread belief that a NATO-trained army would overrun the separatist-held portions of the Donbass. It was seen as similar to the overrunning of majority-Serb regions that Tito after 1945 had defined as part of a sovereign state of Croatia within the wider Yugoslav Federation.
That the regular Russian armed forces have done a lot of the fighting is not the key issue. If the oblasts had a right to secede, they also had a right to choose to become part of Russia. Tsarist Russia had largely created them from what had been depopulated lands disputed with the Ottoman Empire. Crimea had been the base for slave raids against Christian and mostly Slavonic peasants.
The United Nations has never had a definite or principled view about whether democratic secession by regional majorities is a human right. There is usually a vote against any particular claim by a majority of UN members. This is mostly combined with a failure to do anything about it, and that was the case when Bangladesh claimed independence. UN resolutions continued to speak of East Pakistan until the Pakistani government lost a war with India and conceded the claim.
In recent years, US and British governments have dishonestly granted this right to some and denied it to others. Kosovo, but not Iraqi Kurds; and also not majority-Serb regions within Kosovo.
We as a British party should favour whatever brings peace. This seems very likely to involve the war ending with considerable territories incorporated into Russia.
I agree with the last sentence
The Ukraine is one of the three Russias, always has been and always will be. It is up to the Russian people to decide what happens in the Ukraine (and I include Ukrainians as Russians) it is certainly not up to American land and resources grabbing sons of long demented president parents. Hopefully the vast majority of the Ukraine will be returned to common sense. Brought back under the secure umbrella of Russia and Belarus (the other two Russias). Zelensky tried in a Moscow courtroom and hung for treason. Hopefully Russia, Belarus and Kievan Rus can be united as a new Union of Soviets. And US politicians with tins of biscuits in one hand and land ownership certificates in the other will be banished forever with the white powder sniffing hooker loving young Biden. Poland fancies a bit of Ukrainian land as does Romania. The Ukrainian border has always moved around as has the Polish border. Transnistria should be reunited to the Russian block. Whatever deals Russia decideds should be fully supported. We support Russia in their just cause special operation and highlight the nonsense of western imperialism meddling where it doesn’t belong. End all sanctions on Russia. Long live Russia and the Russian people. Z
I fully support this motion and have to praise the proposer on accuracy of facts and historic background information. I am very proud that Workers Party is on the right side of the history and stands with Russia who are fighting nazi regime in Ukraine, russophobia and killings of innocent Russian and Ukranian people in Eastern Ukraine. Banning Russian language, Russian culture, Russian TV and books for enthnic Russians in Ukraine is a violation of human rights which should never been allowed but has continued since 2014 until Russia had enough. Let’s hope and pray that this terrible conflict will end in 2025 with a victory of Russia and the peace & restoration of the region will commence.
In general the motion looks good. However I would probably correct a few minor points.
1. “A war occurring within several oblasts (regions) that Lenin and Khrushchev made part of Soviet Ukraine”
This sounds a bit like within a common Western propagandist narrative that crazy communists leaders did whatever they wanted. In fact history was much more complicated. There were reasons why the border between the newly formed Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was drawn East to the Russian populated Donbass in 1920-s. There was no independent Ukrainian state in history until 1991 (if not count for a few short living quasi-states similar to other quasi-states which popped up and disappeared during the Russian Civil War everywhere). So the border would be arbitrary in any case and that particular logic was caused by specific reasons of 1920-s. The point is that nobody actually cared until 1991 because USSR and RSFSR were de facto just administrative units of the USSR. Transfer of Crimea from RSFSR to USSR was indeed a kind of a voluntarist act by Khrushchev but again not many people cared because it was one country anyway. But since in 1991 Ukraine got full independence (which it never had until that moment) the logic of 1920-s and 1950-s became irrelevant and the situation of Russian regions of the former USSR must have been addressed. But the pro-western puppet Eltsin’s government didn’t do anything. So the current problem with Novorossia and Crimea was caused not by Lenin and Khruschev personally (their decisions might have been questionable but were within the political logic of their time and were not their personal decisions but the decisions of the ruling Communist Party) but mostly by post-soviet Eltsin’s puppet government. So I would correct this statement a little bit to avoid the impression that the blame is to put on Lenin and Khruschev.
2. President Putin outlined the main Russian conditions to peace (and those points represent the general consensus of Russian people):
a. Historical Russian regions (Novorossia, Donbass and Crimea) must be a part of Russia. There is no way they can return back to Ukraine. That would be a betrayal of Russian people who live there.
b. Ukraine must never be a part of NATO. After Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and Syria it is clear that NATO is not a purely defensive block and is a deadly threat to Russia. Even Russians who are very critical of Putin’s government don’t want their country to be turned into Iraq. Even as not a formal member of NATO Ukraine must never possess a security threat to Russia as a NATO puppet state which the West can use as it’s “sepoys”.
c. Denazification. Nazi and neo-Nazi elements have enormous power in the current corrupt Ukrainian state. They must be removed from power. Having a Nazi state which is willing to fight forever as Western “sepoys” on the southern Russian border is a bit too much and no Russian government will ever tolerate it.
d. Rights of Russian-speaking people who live in other parts of Ukraine. Their rights were constantly violated since 1991 and the West turned a blind eye on it. Now the situation with Russians in Ukraine and the Orthodox church is horrible. Rights of Russia speaking population must be fully restored and guaranteed.
A road to peace in Ukraine must address those lawful Russian demands. Without that any lasting peace agreement is just impossible. I thins this should be reflected in the motion.