Europe and Russia’s Complex Relationship : PART - 2

Drama has always existed between Russia and mainland Europe. All of it was normal geopolitics between empires and nations until the First World War and the Russian Revolution took place.

On the eve of WWI, the Russian Empire, along with UK and France, formed the Triple Entente which opposed the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. When Germany declared war on Serbia in 1914, Russia sent its troops to the west, starting the first world war. It was in the midst of the war that the October Revolution took place.

The Russian revolution undoubtedly holds immense importance in history. It would mark the last time Russia and the west saw each other as allies. Bolshevik communism sent a “Red Scare” to the capitalist powers of western Europe. There was no bigger threat to the grand powers of Western Europe than communism. Let's not forget, it was during this time that the British, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and other European nations employed the hardline capitalist exercise of colonizing the rest of the world.

A noteworthy move by the Bolsheviks was the repudiation of Russia’s foreign debt. The Bolsheviks refused to pay back any of the large sums of money that the Tsar had borrowed. This was an unpleasant shock to Britain, France, and other lenders, French banks, and citizens are said to have suffered massive losses of over five hundred billion United States dollars today.

In 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk made Russia lose Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Courland, Livonia, and Estonia. The Bolsheviks would annul that treaty the very same year, as the central powers accepted defeat in the war. This region will remain at the center of back and forth between Russia and the rest of Europe (mainly Poland) until 1921.

Towards the east, the Bolsheviks had to deal with rebel armies, backed by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and others. The rebel armies would be squandered, and the USSR would be formed in 1922. What would continue, are Western Europe's (and America)’s efforts to destabilize and delegitimize the USSR till its dissolution in 1991. The 1930s were marked by the rise of Hitler. His ambitions to rule all of Europe alarmed everyone. Also, the Nazis vehemently opposed Bolshevism. After Jews, communists were their largest victims. World War II started in 1939, and Operation Barbarossa, German invasion of the Soviet Union made it join the allied powers in 1941.

After the end of World War II, the USSR was a major world power. Now, it also had power over about a third of Germany. The struggle between the European-American right and the Soviet left, in the form of the cold war, continued for decades. Interestingly, in South Africa, as the African National Congress fought against colonial rule, it was openly supported by East Germany. When western Europe and the United States were fighting the ANC to continue apartheid and colonialism in South Africa, the USSR and East Germany even supplied arms to the ANC, a notoriously communist group.

Today, Some incidents have recently gained attention on social media where Important Leaders from the Global south have stood up and dared to show a mirror to Europe about its Hypocritical ways. When asked about India’s increased purchases in oil and petroleum products from Russia, EAM Jaishankar replied “Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s Problems are the World’s Problem but the World’s Problems are not Europe’s Problems”. He also iterated the fact that what India or any other buying nations purchase from Russia in a month is what Europe buys in an afternoon.

Articles from many well-acclaimed brands from different countries have already accused the European Commission and its Chief Ursula von der Leyen of having ‘double standards’ while dealing with similar situations like that of Ukraine and Israel.

It is also a notable fact that the EU is dependent on Russian Gas from pipelines through Ukraine for 40% of its energy needs. Soon after the initial stages of the Ukraine-Russia Conflict, Russia had completely shut down this luxury. So Europe turned to its saviour for completing its oil needs, the United States. Yet again showcasing its hypocrisy, Europe threw all its climate crisis agendas out of the window and started importing US Oil and Gas through large containers via Ships. Brussels despite protests from Climate activists completely disregarded climate concerns showing its colors