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The recent unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia is a classic example of the popular saying that “when the strong does what he likes, the weak suffers what he must.” How else can one describe the act of one of the most powerful countries in the world in invading a struggling state with numberless tanks, bombers and missiles from the sea, land and air, thereby destroying valuable properties and killing thousands of innocent people, including women, government officials and ministers, with relish?
From time immemorial, the world had and is still producing leaders, some of whom are instinctively pugnacious, combative, accusative, acquisitive, arrogant, assertive and merciless.
World War I
The First World War began in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Archduke Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by a Serbian nationalist, Gavirlo Princip, on June 28, 1914. Princip and other nationalists had been agitating for the end to Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia Herzegovina. He saw the incident as one that might lead Austria-Hungary to start a war. The Serbian government, therefore, ordered the Serbian Army to mobilise and also appealed to Russia for assistance.
On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and, within a week, Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia joined Austria, Hungary and Germany, and First World War began.
The First World War, which ended at 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 left nine million soldiers dead, 21 million wounded and five million civilians died from disease, starvation or explosion.
Yet the war was an avoidable one BUT for the combative instinct of the leaders.
World War II
This global war was again the handiwork of leaders who were instinctively combative and acquisitive. The war was sparked off by Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, and fuelled in large measure by the Japanese militarism. The global war did not come to an end until the newly discovered atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The war led to the loss of about 60 to 80 million people, approximately 3 per cent of the world’s population, who were mostly civilians.
At the end of World War II in 1945, the world’s leaders inaugurated the United Nations and the Security Council. The United Nations Charter and the Statute of International Court of Justice were designed to prevent another world war. How effective the two organization are is debatable, particularly in view of the provision in the Security Charter allowing powerful countries to veto their decision.
1960: A third world war was averted
In spite of the establishment of the United Nations Organisation and Security Council, the U.S. and NATO, on one hand, and Russia with China, on the other, pursued different political, ideological and economic strategies, which brought about the Cold War.
The Cold War almost melted into hot war in 1960 and the world would have witnessed a Third World War. In 1958, the United States of America had been over-flying the Soviet Union using U-2 flights to gather information. These missions were not detected by Russia.
However, on May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers departed a military airbase in Peshawar in Pakistan for a deeper intelligence mission into Russia. His U-2 Plane was brought down by an X-75 DVINA SA-2 guideline surface-to-air missile in Ukraine. Powers, however, parachuted. He had taken oath to use a poison-laid injection pin if he was brought down. He was brought before Krushev, a highly intelligent leader of the Soviet Union, who jokingly asked him why he did not “use the poison laid injection pin.”
Before then, the U.S. had denied that Powers was flying over Russia on intelligence missions.
Kruschev stoutly demanded an apology from the U.S. for over-flying his country. The U.S. denied and refused to apologise. The other countries in the West supported the U.S. and the Cold War was melting into hot and hotter war.
I was a self-sponsored student, working and studying in London for the Bar examination of Wales and England at that time. Britain, which was one of the outspoken Western countries, supported the U.S. against Russia. Krushev warned the Western world and, in particular, he told Britain that it was a small island and that he would sink Britain, below the sea.
Nigerian students whose parents had the means flew their children back to Nigeria. However, those of us who had no means of paying for the flight to Nigeria had no alternative but to resign to fate. We saw each minute as the end of life when Krushev would sink all of us into the sea with the atomic bomb.
We were glued to our television and radio and nobody ventured to go out. Somehow and unexpectedly, after about two weeks, Krushev changed his mind, he called Francis Powers and said to him: “My young man, I am a grandfather, I have children and grandchildren. I understand why you did not use the poison-laden needle. It is because every living thing wants to live.”
He spared the life of Powers.
On August 19, 1960, Powers was convicted of espionage, “a grave crime covered by Article 2 of the Soviet Union’s Law On Criminality Responsibility for State Crimes.”
His sentence consisted of 10 years’ confinement, three of which were to be in a prison, with the remainder in a labour camp.
However, on February 10, 1962, Powers was exchanged, along with U.S. student Frederic Pryor, for Soviet KGB Colonel William Fisher.
Nigeria has more than 5,600 students and numberless Nigerians who are either studying of working in Ukraine. Having gone through the ordeal of 1960, I understand the agony, frustration and suffering of Nigerians in Ukraine as the bombs, missiles and tanks are destroying properties, killing innocent people.
After all, we must appreciate that all previous world wars, in spite of the carnage and destruction of lives and properties, ended with one sort of peace agreement or the other, but then, did the agreements bring back to life those who were killed?
Ethnicity problems
Ukraine is a relatively young state, which became independent in 1991. It has a long history of dispute and partitioning between Poland and the Soviet Union. It is inhabited by Ukrainians and Russians. There was and there is the ethnicity problem, which has been the cause of several disputes, conflicts and even wars including but not limited to the Crimea declaration for independence in 2014.
On February 27 and 28, 2014, the Russians living in Crimea seized buildings in the Crimea and quickly organized a referendum that resulted in 97 per cent of 83 per cent who voted voting for integration into Russia Federation. Those who live in Western Ukraine see themselves as belonging to the European Union, while those who live in the East want to be attached to Russia.
Immediate solution
The solution, to me, is immediate ceasefire by Russia and Ukraine. The world should prevail on Russia to withdraw troops to allow United Nations and Security Council to organize a referendum among those states in the east.
Secondly, the ceasefire will enable citizens of other countries, including Nigeria, to evacuate. The United Nations should organize a referendum in all the states with large a population of Russians.
Inaction by the Nigeria government.
President Vladimir Putin had given long notice to the whole world that he intended to invade Ukraine. Consequently, many countries, including the U.S., advised their citizens to leave Ukraine. Nigeria was visibly inactive. At the time when it dawned on Nigeria to evacuate Nigerians, including students, from Ukraine, the airports had been disabled and missiles were flying day and night.
The earlier we joined others to prevail on Russia to agree to a ceasefire and withdraw from Ukraine, the better.
