Why Russia insists on aggression even though Ukraine cancels joining NATO?

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

Ukraine declared void joining the North Atlantic Military Defense Organization (NATO). However, Russia apparently still trying to disturb Kiev until it was rumored that he wanted to launch a military aggression against the former Soviet Union.

President Vladimir Putin has even recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, two regions in eastern Ukraine that have been controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Putin even deployed a number of his troops to the two regions under the pretext of being part of the peacekeeping force.

Russia’s behavior raises questions from the minds of many, how far will Putin go? Is Russia really preparing to invade Ukraine?

Most observers suspect Putin will keep his troops and equipment around Ukraine to pressure Kiev and the West.

The reason is simple. Russia wants America and its allies to ensure that Ukraine or other former Soviet Union countries will not join NATO.

In addition, Russia also wants to stop the expansion and deployment of NATO weapons in Russia’s “home page” countries.

Despite criticism and sanctions from sanctions to economic embargoes, Russia is considered to continue to maintain military pressure on Ukraine until NATO and America and the United States “give up” and fulfill all their demands.

Putin has even offered the West a simpler version of Russia’s demand that Ukraine reject its offer to join NATO and recognize Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

“Putin has grown tougher, more stubborn and aggressive,” Moscow-based political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told reporters. Associated Press.

Oreshkin even reckons Putin could consider a future military strike to seize southern Ukraine all the way to the Black Sea port of Odessa. However, he thinks Putin will move slowly but surely.

“Putin sees himself as a great gatherer of Russian lands, a view which prompts him to take bold steps that are detrimental to national interests,” Oreshkin said.

In his impassioned speech earlier this week, Putin even suggested that Ukraine never had a history of standing as a state on its own.

He considers Ukraine to be part of ancient Russia during the heyday of the Russian Empire. Putin even considers Ukraine a creation of the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, and ridicules Kiev for trying to give up that legacy.

“Paradoxically, Russia is trying to reverse its status as a defeated power in the Cold War by creating a Cold War-style crisis,” said Alexander Baunov, an international politics analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center.