... down trade and other sanctions that generally hurt all sides, even if unevenly?
Given the negative Russian reaction to the EU Eastern Partnership, and the expansion of EU influence into post-Soviet states, including Ukraine and Belarus, what if EU took steps to bring Russia into a new form of EU partnership? Could the EU and Russia forge new trade and monetary arrangements, for example?
Could both Kaliningrad and Crimea become free trade areas, yet under Russian sovereignty? Would this be of interest to Moscow? Would it help reduce political-military ...
... revisionism. Even if the Friendship Agreement of 1997 between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, allowed the former to harbour its Black Sea fleet in Sebastopol, the concession... ... interventionism should the other perceive a threat. Prospects are exacerbated by the fact that Crimea’s modern history is intimately tied to Russia, politically and ethnically... ... strategic interest in the Black Sea and the wider post- Soviet spectrum, advanced the Eastern Partnership. Both initiatives have attempted to solidify strategic and geopolitical...
Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea has enraged the West. His lack of openness to any compromise has forced it to launch a — weak — sanctions regime.... ... huge rise in Putin’s popularity — much like the last time in Georgia. He now has the recipe.
But the situation in Ukraine is bound to escalate. It will not come to a Cold War — but it looks like Putin is dead set on testing the limits....