PEORIA, Ill. — It is “technically already an invasion” with Russian forces entering parts of eastern Ukraine this week. It’s the perspective of Angela Weck, history department faculty member and a Russian history expert at Bradley University in Peoria.
She responded to questions on 1470 WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show” early Tuesday.
Weck informed listeners how Russia and Ukraine have spent much of their history, figuratively attached at the hip, almost like sibling nations, drawing from many of the same origin stories going back centuries and through centuries more of conflict, changing empires and changing times.
Weck says it is what’s driving the current message from the Kremlin in Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, when it comes to the more tangible reasons behind Russia’s ongoing intense interest in Ukraine, the motive for profit might better explain things.
Weck says Putin wants to take hold of valuable nations all along Russia’s borders, “and Ukraine is very, very valuable.”
“It’s got resources, it’s got agriculture, it’s got an educated population,” she adds.
Weck says another thing may also be pushing Putin to continue on the current course of more aggressive action.
“Frankly, the sanctions have actually hurt (Putin) and I think that’s part of what might be motivating Putin to take over Ukraine right now.”
At the same time, she says for Russian citizens, “sanctions are sanctions. (They’d say) We’ve lived through sanctions, we’ll live through sanctions again,” echoing some of the reaction already seen coming out of Moscow as the U.S. and other Western nations begin imposing harsh economic sanctions meant, at least in part, to isolate the Russian financial sector from all business in the West.
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