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Why are the Russians doing this? 

The Russian government stated that their reasoning for the special military operation was that they wanted to reunite the Russian separatists living in Ukraine with Russia, and they wanted to regain their former capital, Kiev. However, their intentions were easily seen through when they captured Kharkiv and the Kherson territory to obtain Odessa, a major city in Ukraine. This was done to connect their front line with the European Union in Moldova, another country full of Russian separatists.

What about the refugee situation?

Ukrainian citizens have escaped to neighboring countries. Poland is hosting 548,000 refugees; Hungary 133,000 ; Moldova 98,000 ; Slovakia 79,000 ; and Romania 51,000. Of these refugees 88,000 have moved to other European countries.

What is NATO doing in response?

Source: Wikipedia Contributors

NATO stated that they would not send troops over to Ukraine. This was to prevent another European conflict and a possible global nuclear war. As NATO recognizes that many Russian citizens do not support Putin’s war, they have decided to obstruct Russia in a way that does not directly hurt the Russian citizens. 

The NATO countries have minimized trade with Russia. They have also sanctioned Putin and his elite group (the Russian parliament with 351 individuals and the Russian oligarchs), implementing financial penalties by freezing their global assets and restricting them from accessing NATO markets. This means that they are not able to access anything outside of Russia and their allies. NATO has also banned Russian banks from using S.W.I.F.T., the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, hurting the Russian economy. The Russian currency has hit an all-time low in regards to foreign exchange rates.

How does this affect Canada?

For the average citizen, the most significant change would be the rise of gas prices. NATO had been relying heavily on Russia for energy through buying large amounts of natural gas and oil. Now that NATO is sanctioning them and trading less with Russia, there is less oil in the market, raising the value and costs. 

Works Cited

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