News summary on the way home from work, Subsletter Evening.
When I wake up in the morning, foreign media reports about the urgent situation in Ukraine pour in.
The crisis of war is at its climax, and the world's attention is focused on the Ukraine's gunpowder depot Donbas.
Putin's order to send Russian troops here.
Donbass is at the center of the confrontation between Russia and the Western world.
Putin orders to send troops to Donbass
When Russian President Putin ordered the dispatch of troops to the defense minister, the crisis of war entered the countdown.
Ukraine's Donbas region borders Russia, where pro-Russian separatists established the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) to exercise their autonomy.
The international community does not recognize segregation and independence.
But President Putin approved the independence of the two republics and ordered the dispatch of troops in the name of peacekeepers.
Let's briefly summarize the recent situation.
The Russian House of Representatives passed a resolution on the 15th demanding that Putin recognize the independence of two autonomous republics in the Donbas region.
It is a parliamentary resolution, but it is known that Putin did it behind the scenes.
Afterwards, as Western countries' mediation efforts continued, President Putin delayed the decision.
While declaring the independence of the two autonomous republics, he ordered the dispatch of a 'peacekeeping force', that is, the deployment of Russian troops in Ukraine's territory.
It formalized the will to end the war.
Wouldn't it be an invasion in itself for the Russian army to move into the Donbas region of Ukraine?
The US is in the position that it is not yet an 'act of invasion', saying that the Russian army has already been in the Donbas area for 8 years and has been doing it secretly and now publicly.
If Russia engages in a military operation, it seems that the United States will define it as an invasion and impose high-strength sanctions.
Pro-Russian land 'Donbass'
The Autonomous Republic was established in Donbass in 2014, 8 years ago.
In that year, Russia invaded and forcibly annexed Crimea in southern Ukraine. Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part also took control of industrial areas and formed the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People's Republic (LPR). It proclaimed the establishment of an autonomous republic.
According to foreign media reports, about 2.3 million and 1.5 million people live in Donetsk Oblast and Lugansk Oblast, respectively, and most of the residents are Russian citizens or speak Russian.
It is also said that Russia issued Russian passports to 800,000 inhabitants.
Currently, the Donbas region is divided into regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government trying to suppress it, and a low-intensity civil war has been going on for eight years.
"The Cold War has begun again"
Although Donbas is a gunpowder store, this situation can be seen as a clash between Russia and the West. The biggest reason Russia is willing to go to war is to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.
With Russia already surrounded by NATO, Putin could not wait to see Ukraine, Russia's front yard, turn into an alliance with the West.
So, there is a diagnosis that if Russia invades Ukraine, it will be an opportunity to start the Cold War again.
Politico, an American political media outlet, interprets "Russia's recent provocations and NATO's increase in troops, military equipment, and support in Eastern Europe are similar to the East-West conflict that continued for decades before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991."
An expert interviewed by this media said, "It is highly likely that we will see a fine line separating countries that want to go with Europe and the United States and countries that want to go with Russia. Let's call this situation Cold War Season 2. Russia expands its power beyond Ukraine We will try," he predicted, but it seems that the security landscape in Europe will become unstable.
It seems clear that Russia's presence is being emphasized, but it is moving away from the image of 'out of date, a powerhouse of the past'.
As a result of this incident, the heads of Western countries are trying to contact Putin for diplomatic mediation.
This was the title.
"Superpower Russia is back. No one can ignore the Kremlin"
President Moon "Respects Ukraine's sovereignty and territory"
President Moon Jae-in presided over the National Security Council (NSC) at the Blue House, mentioning seeking a peaceful solution through dialogue and respecting the sovereignty and territory of Ukraine.
Let me introduce some of President Moon's remarks.
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine must be respected.
We must actively seek a peaceful solution through dialogue.
Contrary to the expectations of the international community, it is never desirable for the situation in Ukraine to deteriorate into an armed conflict situation.
It will have a big impact politically and economically not only in Europe but also around the world.
(..) The Korean government has been closely monitoring the situation from the beginning of the Ukraine crisis and closely monitoring the impact on the economy and the protection of overseas citizens according to various scenarios to be developed in the future.
As the situation develops rapidly, we must now be prepared to respond more quickly, aggressively, and specifically.
I hope that you will do everything in your power to protect and evacuate Koreans residing in Ukraine, and work closely with relevant countries.
The president emphasized that while closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine, measures to protect Koreans living abroad should be prepared and prepared so as not to adversely affect the economy.
Relevant government ministries also held inspection meetings one after another, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held an urgent meeting of the Ukraine Response Task Force (TF) presided over by the 2nd Vice Minister to discuss emergency evacuation and evacuation of the people. In accordance with the 'contingency plan' already prepared for each situation scenario, measures to stabilize the real and financial markets should be carried out quickly, and the related emergency response task force (task force) should be actively operated."
Energy and raw materials… What is our economic impact?
There is concern that the war crisis will cause difficulties in all industrial activities, including energy and raw material supply and demand, and exports.
The first thing we can predict is a surge in energy prices, such as oil prices.
Russia is an oil producer and the world's number one natural gas exporter. The international oil price broke a record high in seven years as the international oil price exceeded $90 per barrel due to the war crisis. There's even a view.
As we are highly dependent on crude oil imports, we can struggle in many industries such as aviation, steel, chemical, shipbuilding, automobiles, and construction.
Among the raw materials used for cathode materials, which are core materials for secondary batteries, nickel and aluminum, which have a relatively high proportion of production in Russia, are rising.
Semiconductor companies that import Neon (Ne) and Krypton (Kr), which are rare gases essential for semiconductor processing from Russia and Ukraine, are also nervous.
The semiconductor industry can be adversely affected directly or indirectly, especially if the US imposes high-strength semiconductor sanctions against Russia as previously announced.
There have been 'urgent inspections' of the Ukraine situation in government ministries and the financial industry, and there must be a lot of things to check.
a piece of the day
The 20th presidential election is 15 days away.
This is a scene where a postman delivers election notices, and thick notices are placed in each mailbox in the apartment.