Ukraine’s Crisis vs. Russia’s Revisionism of International Relations

Abstract

The armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine fostered the Federation to revise the balance of powers in Eastern Europe and even the post-Cold-War international world order. Moreover, one would assume that the Orange Revolution and Euromaidan constituted attempts to change the current state of affairs. When the ruling authorities were replaced and constitutional changes made, it did not bring about the kind of substantial transformation in the sphere of political system that would allow the creation of a more stable structure. The change of political and legal systems seems to be one of the most urgent necessities in Ukraine. Still, are the ruling elites ready, and above all, are they able to conduct a profound change in the perception of reality, and go beyond the clan-oligarchic interests? If Ukraine fails to conduct systematic political reforms, it will be doomed to a future of being taken advantage of, while at the same time, becoming susceptible to Russia’s influences. It needs to be underlined here that the unstable situation of Ukraine hampers decision makers in Russia, the U.S. and the EU, who all find it difficult to establish with whom they should negotiate. At the same time, due to internal squabbles, Ukraine is becoming marginalized, and its chances for integration within the Euro-Atlantic structures are diminishing. The present paper synthesizes Ukraine on the one hand, as a country at a crossroads, and on the other, as a state of key interests for Russia in the post-Soviet space. Next, Russia’s motivators for revising the post-Cold-War international order will be presented. The description will take Ukraine’s position and the role into consideration. The paper merely touches upon the surface of the research problem and does not constitute a full in-depth study of the issue.