Choose the appropriate option among the following statements :
(a) Crimea was a part of Ukraine till 2014.
(b) Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
(c) NATO consists of 30 member countries.

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

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).

Why the other options are wrong — (a) 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.  (b) 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.  (d) 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.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2022 Q71 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2022 Q71 — Current Affairs PYQ with Answer