Center for Security Studies

No. 158: Russian Foreign Policy and the Ukraine Crisis

No. 158: Russian Foreign Policy and the Ukraine Crisis

Author(s): Maxine David, Marlene Laruelle, Andrei Tsygankov
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 158
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2014

This edition focuses on Russian Foreign Policy and the Ukraine Crisis. Firstly, Andrei Tsygankov considers the sources underlying Russia’s policy toward its western neighbour, detailing how this policy has evolved from unhappy relations with Victor Yushchenko to rapprochement with Victor Yanukovich and then confrontation over the revolutionary power change in Kiev in February 2014. Secondly, Maxine David outlines how the 2014 Ukrainian crisis has laid bare the differences between the European Union and Russia, and suggests that the EU must confront the reality of Russia today and decide on a policy that can divert the two actors from their current conflictual path but without paying the price in respect of the EU’s self-professed normative identity. Thirdly, Marlene Laruelle outlines that in considering the impact of the Ukraine Crisis on Central Asia, and Russia’s relations with these states, it is necessary to take into account that there are different perceptions among the five states, and that there are at least 3 different aspects of the Ukraine crisis - EuroMaidan, Crimea, and Eastern Ukraine - that elicit distinct responses from Central Asian audiences.

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