MPSC 2022 Prelims Paper-I · Question 71 of 100

Correct — option (3), all three statements. Three statements are printed here, (a) to (c), not four, and each of them was accurate when this paper was set on 21 August 2022. Statement (a) is correct. Crimea was transferred from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954, and when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 the peninsula passed with Ukraine into independence, remaining part of Ukraine as an autonomous republic, with Sevastopol as a separately administered city, until 2014. Statement (b) is correct. From 27 February 2014 Russian troops without insignia occupied the strategic points of the peninsula; a referendum was held on 16 March 2014 under that occupation, offering no option for the existing status; independence was declared on 17 March; and on 18 March 2014 a treaty of accession was signed under which Russia incorporated Crimea as the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. The United Nations General Assembly rejected the referendum and affirmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, the G8 suspended Russia's membership, and sanctions followed. Statement (c) is correct as at the date of this examination. North Macedonia acceded to the North Atlantic Treaty on 27 March 2020 as the thirtieth member, and the alliance stood at thirty when the paper was written in August 2022. A student reading this card today must hold that date firmly, because the number has changed twice since: Finland acceded on 4 April 2023 as the thirty-first member and Sweden on 7 March 2024 as the thirty-second, both applications having been made in 2022 in direct response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began that February. The examination answer is thirty because the examination was written in August 2022; the present answer to the same question would be thirty-two. This is the single most important habit in preparing current affairs from past papers — every numeric answer is an answer as at a date, and the date is part of the fact. Since all three statements are correct, the answer is option (3).

• (1)(a) and (b) are correct — This option accepts statements (a) and (b) but rejects statement (c), the count of thirty NATO members. The count was right at the time this paper was written. NATO was founded by the North Atlantic Treaty of 4 April 1949 with twelve members and grew in a series of enlargements — Greece and Turkey in 1952, West Germany in 1955, Spain in 1982, then the post-Cold War rounds that brought in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 1999, seven more states in 2004, Albania and Croatia in 2009, Montenegro in 2017 and North Macedonia on 27 March 2020, which took the alliance to thirty. That was still the figure in August 2022. A candidate rejecting the statement is most likely thinking of the applications Finland and Sweden lodged in the summer of 2022, but an application is not an accession: Finland joined on 4 April 2023 and Sweden on 7 March 2024, both after this paper was set. Getting the sequence right matters more than getting a single number right, because a number learnt without its date will be wrong within a year or two.
• (2)Only (c) is correct — This option accepts only statement (c) and rejects statements (a) and (b), which are the two best-documented facts in the question. Crimea was part of Ukraine until 2014 — it had been transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954 and stayed with Ukraine when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 — and Russia annexed it in 2014 through the sequence of occupation from late February, referendum on 16 March, declaration of independence on 17 March and treaty of accession on 18 March. The annexation is not a matter on which reasonable accounts differ as to what happened or when; what is disputed is its legality, and on that the United Nations General Assembly resolved that the referendum had no validity and affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. An option that rejects both of the well-established statements in order to keep the one that carries a date-sensitive number is exactly the wrong way round.
• (4)(a) and (c) are correct — This option accepts statements (a) and (c) and rejects statement (b), which asserts that Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. The annexation is a matter of record: Russian forces in unmarked uniforms took control of the peninsula's strategic sites from 27 February 2014, a referendum was staged on 16 March under that occupation with no option to retain the existing status, independence was declared the next day, and a treaty incorporating Crimea into the Russian Federation as the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol was signed on 18 March 2014. It is possible that a candidate rejecting this statement is objecting to the word annexed on the ground that Russia describes the events as an accession following a referendum, but that is a dispute about characterisation and legality rather than about the facts, and the international position is settled: the General Assembly rejected the referendum, the G8 suspended Russia, and Crimea is treated as territory under Russian occupation.

Crimea is a peninsula on the northern coast of the Black Sea, joined to the Ukrainian mainland by a narrow isthmus and commanding the naval approaches to the Sea of Azov; Sevastopol has been the base of the Black Sea Fleet since imperial times, which is why the peninsula's status has never been a purely administrative question. It was part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until 1954, when it was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic; the transfer had little practical consequence while both republics were inside the Soviet Union, but it became decisive when the Union dissolved in 1991 and Crimea passed with Ukraine into independence. The events of 2014 followed the fall of the Ukrainian government in February: Russian forces without insignia occupied the peninsula from 27 February, a referendum was held on 16 March under that occupation, independence was declared on 17 March, and an accession treaty was signed on 18 March. The United Nations General Assembly rejected the referendum and affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity, the G8 suspended Russia and became the G7 again, and NATO suspended practical cooperation with Russia. Eight years later, in February 2022, Russia launched a full invasion of Ukraine, and the consequence for the alliance was immediate: Finland and Sweden, both of which had stayed outside NATO throughout the Cold War, applied for membership in 2022. NATO itself was created by the North Atlantic Treaty signed at Washington on 4 April 1949 by twelve states, its central provision being Article 5, under which an armed attack against one member in Europe or North America is to be considered an attack against them all. Successive enlargements took the membership to thirty with North Macedonia's accession on 27 March 2020, to thirty-one with Finland on 4 April 2023 and to thirty-two with Sweden on 7 March 2024.

Current affairs questions in an MPSC paper are questions about a moment, and the moment is the day the paper was written — here 21 August 2022. That is the single most useful thing to understand about preparing this section from past papers. The answer to statement (c) is thirty because NATO had thirty members in August 2022; the same statement in a paper written two years later would be false, and a student revising from this card must store the number with its date attached rather than as a bare fact. The examiner's own choice of material follows the same logic: a paper written in August 2022 asks about Crimea and about NATO because the invasion of Ukraine six months earlier had put both on every front page, and it asks about the alliance's size because that was the number being quoted in the coverage of the Finnish and Swedish applications. Anticipating what the news will make examinable is therefore a real preparation technique. The other feature of this question worth noting is that it mixes a stable historical fact with a volatile one. Statements (a) and (b) will be true for ever; statement (c) was true for about three years. When a list mixes the two kinds, the volatile item is almost always the one the question is really testing, and the candidate's job is to date it correctly rather than to check it against today's newspaper.

• Crimea was transferred from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1954 and remained part of Ukraine from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 until 2014.
• Russia occupied Crimea from 27 February 2014, held a referendum under occupation on 16 March, and signed a treaty of accession on 18 March 2014 incorporating it as the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol; the United Nations General Assembly rejected the referendum and affirmed Ukraine's territorial integrity.
• NATO had thirty member countries when this paper was written in August 2022, North Macedonia having acceded on 27 March 2020 as the thirtieth.
• Finland acceded on 4 April 2023 as the thirty-first member and Sweden on 7 March 2024 as the thirty-second, both having applied in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine — so the correct present-day answer to statement (c) is no longer thirty.
• NATO was founded by the North Atlantic Treaty signed at Washington on 4 April 1949 by twelve states; its central provision, Article 5, treats an armed attack against one member in Europe or North America as an attack against them all.

• Answering a dated current affairs question from today's figures; NATO had thirty members when this paper was set and has thirty-two now, and the examination answer is the one that was true on the day of the examination
• Confusing an application for membership with an accession; Finland and Sweden applied in 2022 but joined in 2023 and 2024 respectively
• Treating the dispute over the legality of the 2014 annexation as a dispute over whether it happened; the sequence of events is a matter of record and the General Assembly has resolved on its validity
• Rejecting the two stable historical statements in a mixed list in order to preserve the one volatile number, when it is the volatile number that needs dating

International affairs in an MPSC paper are drawn from the twelve to eighteen months before the examination, and the recurring shapes are few: which country did a named thing; how many members does a named organisation have; where is a named place and to which country does it belong; and statement lists of the kind used here that mix a background fact with a number from the recent news. The number is where the question is decided, and it is also where a candidate's preparation is most likely to be out of date, so the practical rule is to keep a running list of organisational memberships with the date of each change — NATO, the European Union, the United Nations Security Council's non-permanent members, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, OPEC — rather than a single remembered figure. For a conflict, the examinable material is a short timeline with dates, the names of the places involved and India's stated position, and it repays being written out once rather than absorbed from headlines.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which country became the thirtieth member of NATO, and in which year ?

  • (a)Montenegro, in 2017
  • (b)North Macedonia, in 2020
  • (c)Finland, in 2023
  • (d)Sweden, in 2024

  Answer(b) North Macedonia, in 2020. It acceded to the North Atlantic Treaty on 27 March 2020, taking the alliance to thirty members, which is the figure that stood when the MPSC 2022 paper was written. Montenegro had joined in 2017 as the twenty-ninth member. Finland followed on 4 April 2023 as the thirty-first and Sweden on 7 March 2024 as the thirty-second, both having applied during 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In which year was Crimea transferred from the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ?

  • (a)1922
  • (b)1945
  • (c)1954
  • (d)1991

  Answer(c) 1954. The transfer was of little practical consequence while both republics remained within the Soviet Union, but it became decisive when the Union dissolved in 1991 and Crimea passed with Ukraine into independence, remaining part of Ukraine as an autonomous republic, with Sevastopol separately administered, until the Russian annexation of 2014. The 1991 date in the options marks the dissolution of the Soviet Union, not the transfer.