Ninety candidates and a collapsing arms treaty: Ukraine's 2019 backdrop
A look back at the days around 6 February 2019, when Ukraine's presidential field closed at a record size as Washington and Moscow stepped back from a Cold War arms treaty.
What did the political landscape look like on 6 February 2019, and how crowded was Ukraine's race for the presidency? The picture, drawn from reports in the days just before that date, combined a domestic contest of unusual size with a shift in great-power relations.
A record field
On 3 February 2019, the Central Election Commission finished accepting documents from candidates in the presidential election. In total, 90 people submitted applications, which was reported as a record number for Ukraine. By 6 February, the commission's intake was complete, and the work of processing that large number of submissions lay ahead.
Arms control unravels abroad
Beyond Ukraine's borders, a separate development was drawing attention. On 1 February 2019, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States was suspending its role in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The agreement, made in 1987 with the USSR and by extension its successor state Russia, banned both countries from possessing or testing nuclear and conventional intermediate-range missiles, as well as their launchers. Washington cited Russian non-compliance.
On 2 February 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by suspending Russia's involvement in the treaty. He said Russia would start developing new missiles, in response to the US decision to withdraw.
The exchange was described in reports as part of what some commentators call a Second Cold War, a label applied by scholars and journalists to heightened tensions between the United States and NATO on one side and Russia or China on the other. Others have discouraged using the term.
Two stories, one date
The two developments were separate: one a domestic election procedure, the other a dispute between two nuclear powers. Together they marked the days leading to 6 February 2019, with Ukraine's electoral field closed at 90 applicants and the arms-control framework between Washington and Moscow suspended by both sides.
