Review article

Ukraine and the Influence of Russia

Siniša Kuko ; Center for International Studies, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Even after two decades of independence, Ukraine's political elite, civil society and the Ukrainian political system cannot complete internal colonial and post-Soviet transformation, and cannot achieve a goal of establishing prosperous and democratic Ukrainian society and prominent state institutions. And, international position of Ukraine and Kievan pro-European ambitions remain overshadowed by particular bilateral relations of the numerous Western capitals with Moscow. Due to the interna! European crisis and general strategic energy dependence of the Europeans, Russia is acting like an Euroasian energy superpower, so the issue of Euro-Atlantic ambitions Kiev remained subordinate to the Russian opposition, which leaves Kiev in a vacuum of integration. Due to strong gravitational force of Moscow, Kiev options remain limited to the Eastern security complex, where a major factor is Russia, not the international law. The EU approach towards Kiev stay reduced to insufficient substitute for enlargement process, to functionaly ambiguous and uneffective European Neighbourhood Policy.

Keywords

Ukraine; stability; security; system; interdependence; multi-polarity; dependence; Russian factor; EU; USA; NATO; European Neigbourhood Policy; traingular model; regional security complex

Hrčak ID:

291674

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/291674

Publication date:

20.11.2012.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 883 *