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- April 2021
Index
Toppers Talk
Polity
- Mullaperiyar Dam Issue explained – Supreme Court issues notice to Kerala and Tamil Nadu
- Phase 3 of eCourt project – Soon India will have 24/7 digital window to file cases from anywhere
- New rules for Overseas Citizenship of India cardholders notified by GoI – Indian Diaspora
- World Press Freedom Index 2021 – India ranks 142nd out of 180 countries
Indian Society
- Status of Working Women in India – Why India is no country for working women?
- Women’s Domestic Work Burden – How Government can reduce it? How to treat unpaid domestic work?
- Globalizations and Gender Inequality – Do we live in an engendered society?
- Issue of Gender Inequality in Indian Political Parties – Indian Polity Current Affairs for UPSC exam
- Casteism in India – Why CASTE names should be hidden during Government job recruitment processes?
Governance & Social Justice
International Relations
- India to ban China’s Huawei over security fears – Impact of ban on Indian Telecom Sector explained
- US Navy operation in Exclusive Economic Zone of India without consent – What is EEZ? India US Ties
- India Seychelles relations – Why is Seychelles important for India?
- Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol – Violence erupts in Northern Ireland – Geopolitics Current Affairs
- Mozambique Insurgency 2021 and impact on India’s interest – International Relations Current Affairs
- Russia Ukraine Conflict escalates – United Kingdom to send WARSHIP to Black Sea
- India Pakistan Kashmir Dispute – Has India accepted 3rd Party Mediation on Kashmir? MEA visit to UAE
Geography
Economy
- India’s gold imports surge 471% in March 2021 – Is it a matter of concern for Reserve Bank of India
- Thermal Power Plant Emission Guidelines – New deadline issued by Union Environment Ministry
- RBI First Bimonthly Monetary Policy 2021-22, Status of Growth and Inflation in Indian Economy
- RBI Printing Money – Rupee becomes Asia’s worst performing currency in 2 weeks
- Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme – Man behind World’s largest Ponzi scheme dies in US prison
Defence & Security
Disaster Management
Science & Technology
- What is a Flex Fuel Vehicle? Merits and Demerits of Flex Fuel Vehicle explained
- Can India become Self Reliant in Crude Oil? Status of India’s oil production
- National Rare Disease Policy 2021 explained – Health Sector Current Affairs – What is Rare Disease?
- Fukushima Nuclear Disaster – Japan’s contaminated water management plan explained
- What is 3D Printed Organ? Can it solve global shortage of organ donation?
- Astronauts to fly reused SpaceX rocket capsule for 1st time – Science and Technology Current Affairs
- Protecting Children in the age of Artificial Intelligence
Environment
- Migratory Birds in Chandigarh – Why fewer birds are migrating to Chandigarh? Bird Census Key Points
- What is Carbon Offsetting? Russia to use forests bigger than India to offset carbon
- Impact of Climate Change on endemic Flora and Fauna – Environment & Ecology
- How Global Warming is creating mass exodus of equatorial marine life?
- Dolphin population doubles in Odisha’s Chilika Lake
Prelims bits

Relevance:
- GS 2 || International Relations || India & Rest of the World || Russia
Why in the news?
The Russia-Ukraine border crisis that started in 2014 has come to the global agenda after four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the Donbas region by Russian forces
Russia Ukraine Conflict: Background
- Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest country in Europe, after Russia, which it borders to the east and north-east.
- Ukraine also shares borders with Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the south; and has a coastline along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
- Ukraine was also formerly a State with the USSR before its disintegration in 1993. Critical industrial and defence manufacturing capacities of the USSR were located in Ukraine.
- In the 2000s, Russia fell out with Ukraine after the former Soviet state started approaching the European Union.
- Pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych, the fourth president of Ukraine, announced that he suspended the EU Association Agreement in 2013 to prevent the country from turning to the West. This move marked the beginning of a deep crisis in Ukrainian history.
- Thousands of people gathered in the Independence Square of Kyiv for months in protest against Yanukovych’s decision. Clashes took place between protesters from time to time, with pro-Russians also taking to the streets.
- Yanukovich had to flee to Russia as the protests went out of control. As Ukraine is geographically divided between Europe and Russia, so are the people of Ukraine divided into two poles, as pro-Russian and pro-Western.
- The tension later spread to Crimea and Donbas. The Crimean Parliament decided to hold a referendum that would allow the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
- Crimea was annexed by Russia following the controversial referendum on March 16, 2014, despite Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians’ objections.
- Pro-Russian separatists also claim control over eastern Ukraine, including the Donbas region, which they illegally controlled over the past seven years.
Minsk Agreements:
- Minsk Agreements were signed in 2014 and 2015 to stop the ongoing conflict between the pro-Russian separatists and the Kyiv administration in the region.
- The agreements included a cease-fire in the region, prisoner exchange while also allowing the Kyiv administration to make a constitutional amendment that would give Donbas special status.
- The pro-Russian separatists, on the other hand, were supposed to withdraw their weapons in the Ukraine-Russia border.
Reasons:
- In the Paris Summit, all parties had agreed on a cease-fire decision starting from July 27, 2020, which was maintained until 2021.
- However, this year, the Russian army’s military build-up on the Ukrainian border has once again escalated the conflicts in the Donbas region.
- The killing of four Ukrainian soldiers by the pro-Russian separatists on March 26 triggered the crisis.
- Ukrainian Chief of General Staff k pointed to the increasing number of Russian troops in the north and east sides of Ukraine’s border and Crimea.
- In response, the Kremlin said Russia was moving its armed forces within its own territory, which should not disturb anyone.
- However, the Russian military officials also warned that Russian forces could act to “defend” Russian citizens in Ukraine, and any escalation of the conflict would mean “the beginning of the end of Ukraine” – “not a shot in the leg, but in the face.
- At the time some half a million people in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic had been issued with Russian passports since fighting broke out in 2014.
International response:
- The EU and the US reacted against Russia’s deployment of troops to Ukraine’s border while also supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
- Western governments and NATO accused Russia of sending regular troops over the border into Ukraine, but Russia maintains any Russian fighters there are “volunteers”
- At present Ukraine is no member of NATO and it has been requesting the organisation for speeding up its membership process.
- Nordic Countries have brought in a declaration asserting that the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea is a violation of international law and other international treaties.
Concerns:
- Deteriorating US-Russia relations: The conflict in Ukraine risks further deterioration of U.S.-Russia relations and greater escalation if Russia expands its presence in Ukraine or into NATO countries.
- Threat to peace in Eastern Europe: Russia’s actions have raised wider concerns about its intentions elsewhere in Eastern Europe, and a Russian incursion into a NATO country would solicit a response from the United States as a NATO ally.
- Lack of international cooperation: The conflict has heightened tensions in Russia’s relations with both the United States and Europe, complicating the prospects for cooperation elsewhere including on issues of terrorism, arms control, and a political solution in Syria.
- The toothless United Nations (UN): The increasing belligerence between the US and the Russia on Ukraine issues has once again exposed the uselessness of the UNO. There is an urgent need to reform the international organisation and give them enough powers to act as actual guardians of world peace.
Way ahead:
- Both blocs need to honestly observe the bilateral and multilateral agreements that also call for ceasefire in the region
- The US and its European allies should not be in a rush to give NATO membership to Ukraine as it would further fuel the distrust on part of Russia.
- The United Nations must intervene to resolve the issue amicably with taking concerns of each party into account.
- In the long-run, the important international organisations such as UNO, IMF, World Bank, WTO etc. must be reform and should be strengthened in such a manner that they could discharge their duties efficiently.
Model Mains Question:
- Trace the Ukraine-Russia conflict from the beginning. What are the concerns associated with the growing belligerence between Russia and the US allies in the Eastern Europe? Explain.