Background on the Conflict
This is an excerpt… now let me see if I may clarify why I have chosen this particular piece from Wikipedia, for you perusal…
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The same day President Yanukovych stated Ukraine will "do its best" to satisfy the EU's requirements.[8] At the time President Yanukovych was also in negotiations with Russia to "find the right model" for cooperation with the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.[8] But also on 25 February 2013 President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso made it clear that "one country cannot at the same time be a member of a customs union and be in a deep common free-trade area with the European Union".[8]
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—https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine%E2%80%93European_Union_relations | ||
Please note: {The Customs Union is a trade agreement with Russia….Ukraine’s largest trading partner.}
The way I interpret this...the EU (European Union) gave President Yanukovych a choice… he may either become a hopeful member of the EU… at some indeterminate time in the future, that is, if he reforms his government… changes his country in the manner that the European Union finds suitable… and eschew any trade agreements with Russia, (its biggest trading partner) Or he can sign a trade agreement with Russia and the EU will have been done with him… Since 1994 these “negotiations” have been pushed into the distant future with the EU… all the while the Ukraine people have seen little progress … little improvement… only the hope of a better future as a member of the European Union. Putin was willing to sign an agreement with the Ukraine… even in the presence of a Ukrainian EU agreement… as one sovereign trading partner to another. This is business…free enterprise with those not of our philosophical persuasions or societal norms. One country should not dictate to another what trading partners with which they may do business... this was certain economic sabotage...Russia buys over half of Ukraine's exports... and sells Ukraine over half of their imports...
This is a case of choosing between serving two masters … no pretense is made that the Ukraine has the right of a sovereign self governing nation. Putin was right when he said "...this isn't a nation".