No. 203: Russia and Ukraine

No. 203: Russia and Ukraine

Author(s): David Szakonyi, Taras Kuzio
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perović, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder, Aglaya Snetkov
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 203
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: 2017

This edition examines the first Duma elections carried out in Crimea in over a century and offers a perspective on the Kremlin’s view of Ukraine. Firstly, David Szakonyi details how, to no one’s surprise, United Russia dominated the recent Duma elections in Crimea, noting that lingering disaffection with the quality of its leadership could undermine its ability to carve out a durable hold over the new Crimean political landscape. Secondly, Taras Kuzio argues that the outlooks of the Kremlin and the Ukrainian people on the relationship between Russia and Ukraine have been diverging for a quarter of a century, as Ukrainians have sought to disentangle their history and national identity from that of the internationalist, Russian dominated “friendship of peoples”.
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