UNAIR NEWS – The Russo-Ukrainian war has dragged on for more than three months. The International Relations lecturer of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences UNAIR I Gede Wahyu Wicaksana SIP MSi PhD said that the war was caused by Russia’s desire to maintain its traditional territory to create a balance of power and regime survival.
“Russia conducted low-intensity war, which means they attacked some parts only to paralyze certain sectors. The purposes are not to overthrow the regime, to rule the country, to occupy, nor to colonize,” he said.
According to Wahyu, the low-intensity war against Ukraine aims to return Russia’s supremacy in East Europe, particularly the former USSR countries, including Ukraine, as the regions used to be Russia’s traditional territory. The effort is projected to guarantee the security of the Russian territory.
Balance of power
According to Wahyu, Russia’s purpose, which is to return its supremacy in East Europe, particularly the former USSR countries, not to destroy the US dominance. Instead, it aims to keep the world’s balance of power.
“Russia wants peaceful coexistence. The US may live on the West Coast, in Latin America, or anywhere. However, Russia has its regions. They have their own ‘land lot’. If a ‘land lot’, which traditionally belongs to Russia, was disrupted, obviously they will react.”
Besides, Wahyu also stated that the Russo-Ukrainian war which dragged on for a long time was caused by the superpower state syndrome. “The US had gained one, it wants one and a half. Now it had one and a half, it wants two more, and so on. That’s why various countries, including Russia, want to shift the world’s balance of power of the world that had previously been very inclined towards America,” said Wahyu.
Regime survival
“For seventeen years, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has ruled in facing the West opposition,” he said. It encouraged the low-intensity war Russia conducted against Ukraine to protect the regime, which is conceptually known as the regime survival.
Author: Tristania Faisa Adam
Editor: Binti Q Masruroh
