After the end of the cold war, Ukraine has become a focus of geostrategical
interests. Ukraine is torn between the European Union on the
one hand, Russia on the other. For the EU, Ukraine is a potential candidate
for future accession. The first part of the association agreement that was
signed in March 2014 directs the EU and Ukraine towards closer political
and economic cooperation. Russia, on the other hand, opposes that development
sharply and fears for its political influence in Eastern Europe. The
number of non-Nato and non-EU states in Eastern Europe has declined
significantly over the last two decades and Russia strictly defies that the remaining
neutral states become part of these organizations as well. Moreover,
Russia has a key interest in Ukrainian territory, since it relies on access to
Crimea as basis for its Black Sea Fleet. Russia’s bargaining power is by all
that immense: Ukraine depends on gas supplies from Russia and is, in addition
to that, an important trading partner. This role has enabled Russia to
prevent the adoption of the EU-Ukraine association agreement that was, for
a first time, scheduled to be signed in November 2013.