5 Key Facts About Putin and the War in Ukraine

Born on October 7, 1952, Vladimir Putin has served as Russia's president since 2012 and as prime minister from 1999 to 2012. Before quitting his position as an officer in 1991 to start a political career in Saint Petersburg to work in President Boris Yeltsin's government, he moved to Moscow in 1996. 

Why did he move to Moscow? 

He moved because he was chosen as prime minister in August 1999. Putin took over as president before winning the general election for his first term less than four months later. In 2004, he won the Reelection. To fulfill his requirement, Putin served as prime minister from 2008 to 2012. Putin received 63.6% of the votes cast in the initial round of the 2012 Russian presidential elections, which were held on March 4. He was re-elected in 2018, continuing his career still as Russian president.

Nuclear? Threats?

Everyone has probably heard of the existing state of affairs between Russia and Ukraine. The biggest question is why Putin is doing this and what he will do next. Will he go nuclear? According to a CNN news broadcast in Moscow, on September 21, Vladimir Putin issued nuclear warnings in his address, declaring a partial Russian mobilization and endorsing illegal "referenda" in the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. After the atomic threat, Putin continued to say that he had more modern weapons than any NATO country.

People don't want to take a possible risk, so they get access to shelters to hide. Will he threaten? Putin added extra forces to Russia and more members into the war and warned that the territory of Russia would be threatened. It was confirmed as a threat if Putin would use nuclear weapons by the Reuters news page. Putin is prepared to use nuclear weapons to protect his country and become a bigger area though it is already the biggest country in the world.

from timesofisrael

President of Ukraine Vlododymyr Zelensky argued that a previous statement had been mistranslated in a BBC interview in which he denied calling for strikes against Russia.

He stated, referring to punishments, "you must use preventive kicks, not attacks." Connecting to how he does not want to attack but ensure Ukraine is prevented from Russia but not by an attack.

Relations with other countries and allies

Putin has a few relationships with other countries. Russia, under Mr. Putin's control, has solid ties with powerful nations like China and North Korea, gaining trust in each other.

The nation has tried to strengthen its connection by signing a contract and constructing Siberian oil, especially with China. When the war happened, the relationships between Putin and these countries were strong. All these countries are ensuring to help him, so Russia is safe. In the worst-case scenario saying this war would turn into a world war, the Russian military team is so strong that it would most likely defeat us. According to the article by Foreign Policy  "China is a superpower with global reach."

This would show how two of the most powerful military-powered countries united against nato could lead to a problem.

from newsweek

Rumours of a formal alliance between China and the relationship between Russia have been at their strongest since the late. Although there is no legal alliance between the two nations, they clearly understand how to work together. The New York Times article in February written by David Leonhardt explained how president Xi Jinping travelled from his country after two years of not travelling to have a meeting with Mr.Putin. It made six critical remarks about the US and declared a "redistribution of power in the world." due to such a close relationship, Russia will have a significant backup with China, a massive country with an excellent military program.

Electricity and energy, why did he cut it off?

As you might have heard recently, with natural gas supplies from Russia, Russia has been unpredictable even before the war with Ukraine. Recently, Russia cut off supplies of cheap natural gas that, for years, Europe has depended on to heat homes and generate electricity. Russia provided 40% of the natural gas used in Europe and much more to Germany, where cheap energy was a major economic driver. Before the start of the Ukraine War, Russia began to cut gas supplies last summer. As a result, gas prices rose significantly.

"We will not supply gas, coal, heating oil - we will not supply anything."

- Vladimir Putin

Two days after Finland's authorities said they supported an application for NATO membership, Russia stopped supplying electricity to Finland. The energy company RAO Nordic Oy in Russia said it cut off electricity supplies due to the fact that they hadn't received payments since last week. After Helsinki supported the application for NATO membership, Russia's decision to cut off supplies made it almost clear that Finland would join the alliance in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a phone conversation with Finnish president Sauli Niinistö on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Helsinki against abandoning its long-standing nonaligned defence strategy because doing so might harm relations between Russia and Finland.

Final conclusion

Bottom line: This ongoing catastrophe is being continued by Vladimir Putin, his country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine. Allies and more nations are becoming involved, and we hope this article has given you, our reader, a better understanding of these five themes and the current events.  But you, as a person who can help, never discriminate or blame people from Russia or Ukraine for the cause of this war since it was against their will.