The Disputed Ukrainian Knot

Since the collapsing of the Soviet Union, in 1991, the precarious relationships between Russia and Ukraine represents the cornerstone of the complex set of processes, which imprinted the post-soviet transitions in both the successor states. Nevertheless, the tragic events, which marked the 2013-14 crisis and, as well as, the following developments were driven mostly by external actors/factors. Clearly, domestic factors interacted together with the external dimension of the Ukrainian affair, but it was the “ambiguity” of the Ukrainian geopolitical location, as a borderland between the enlarge EU and NATO organizations and the Russian Federation, which mobilised the competing powers (US, EU, Russia) in a zero sum game, in the end. The Ukrainian affair, in turn, has replaced the Yugoslav dissolving process in many respects. The dramatic collapsing of the Yugoslav Federation in 1991, paved the way of a set of interpretations among the policy makers and experts, upon the right to get the access to self-determination. Different interpretations highly divided the international community, at first US/EU on one side and Russia (and China) on the other