[noonereal]

Originally Posted by finnbow

He wants to build up the "Eurasian Customs Union" to counteract the strength and (relative) unity of the EU and to compensate for his country being viewed (mostly correctly) as backwards and corrupt now that the Soviet empire is down the tubes. Ukraine is key to making this union more meaningful.

Ukraine (at least the western part and its capital) would prefer the economic promise and freedom of the EU and/or NATO(they see Poland's relative success after it split the sheets with Moscow), but Putin can't stand to see that happen as it is necessary to the ECU's future. Ukraine's future success in the EU would cast further doubt on Putin's stewardship of Russia's faltering economy. He just doesn't like being dissed by these former partners in the failed Soviet experiment.

In short, he wants Russia's relevance/power in the world to again be on a par with what it once was in the USSR and control over Ukraine (and not being openly dissed by them) is instrumental to this objective. If he can't have Ukraine outright, he wants to be as disruptive as possible to keep things from happening with the EU. Lastly, he cannot be seen as backing down to Western pressure after all the propaganda he's been slinging painting Ukraine as evil, Nazi, terrorist, etc. Strong men cannot allow themselves to be seen as weak.

There, you have my rambling $0.02 worth.

thank you pat