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Russia invasion of Ukraine: Hypocrisy and inconsistency
Indonesia bears a constitutional responsibility to actively maintain a world order based on rules and peace and the absence of military aggression by large countries against smaller nations.
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Picking up pieces: People remove debris on Sunday from a supermarket that was damaged when a Russian missile strike destroyed a train station in Kostyantynivka, Ukraine. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)
Feb. 24 marked the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This year the world also commemorates 10 years of conflict between the two countries, which started with Russia's annexation of Crimea and Russia's involvement in supporting rebel forces in Donbas from February to March 2014.
The 10 years of war have caused many humanitarian disasters, ranging from the ever-increasing number of civilian casualties, internal and external refugees, the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russian soldiers, the oppression of Crimean Tatar Muslims and the mental distress facing Ukrainians who have to get used to daily air raid sirens and evacuation to bunkers.
At the same time, the invasion has also caused environmental tragedies, such as the critical conditions at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. In fact, since the full-scale invasion erupted two years ago, the world has been affected by a food crisis due to Russia's blockade of the Black Sea and fertilizer shortages.
Many parties have made efforts to stop the war. Ukraine, for example, proposed a 10-point Peace Formula at the Group of 20 Summit in Bali in 2022, which was followed by several meetings in Saudi Arabia and Malta to discuss the potential peace process.
At the beginning of the Russian invasion, there were several peace negotiations initiated by Turkish President Recep Erdogan, although they have stopped since the revelation of mass killings in Bucha, Ukraine.
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has even tried to play the role of mediator by visiting Kyiv and Moscow ahead of the G20 Summit, albeit without further action and without any results. Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto also floated the idea of a peace proposal during the Shangri-La Dialogue last year, which, unfortunately, was not based on a complete and deep understanding of the Russian invasion.
There are important lessons to learn from Russia's continued full-scale invasion, especially as another military aggression unfolds in Gaza, the occupied territory of Israel in Palestine. Two years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has underlined the hypocrisy of many countries in the world, both from Western countries and from Global South countries, including Indonesia.
