Russian Invasion in Ukraine and its Unfavourable Social and Economic Consequences

Abstract

Assemble of Russian troops along the border of Ukraine escalated tension in east European region since December 2021. World had already been acquainted with Russian aggression when it annexed Crimea in 2014. Russian President Vladimir Putin nurtured a dream of bringing erstwhile Soviet republics under Russia. On February 24, 2022 Russia launched military strike as president Putin expressed desire of "demilitarisation and denazification" of neighbour Ukraine. Ukraine with limited military resources and insufficient assistance from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) found it tough to put up a resistance or make a counterstrike. Geopolitical uncertainty and economic instability aggravated as world made sluggish recovery from COVID 19 driven pandemic crisis till beginning of 2022. Economic sanction on Russia by western power triggered supply chain disruption. As Russia remained major supplier of crude oil, natural gas, fertilizer and mineral resources, the ban on trade process caused shortage of fuel and other materials and led the price hike for oil and mineral resources. The supply setback remained detrimental as world witnessed significant inflation due to pandemic oriented supply constraint. Russia got China, Iran, Syria, Cuba by its side due to trade interest while majority of nations condemned Russian invasion. The world is gradually getting polarised into eastern and western power where combative tendency runs deep than cooperative inclination. The war in Ukraine aggravated world economy which grappled with energy price hike, decade high inflation, supply chain bottleneck, mounting debt, persistent stagnation and rising poverty level. Central banks started contractionary monetary measure which led to hike in interest rate, liquidity crunch and sent the stock market into a tailspin.