Look west, Maidan

摘要

You would be forgiven for thinking that the crisis in Ukraine is past its worst. Although the Minsk agreements are honoured in the breach and artillery fire still echoes across the Donbass, there has been little real combat for months. The separatists have given up extending their territory, Russia has given up sending them heavy reinforcements, and Ukraine has given up trying to defeat them. A chance to resolve lingering disagreements will come on October 2nd when the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany meet in Paris. Although Western powers are surely tempted to turn their attention elsewhere, that would be a mistake. The shooting war was never the only conflict in Ukraine-nor even the most vital one. The Maidan revolution was an attempt to replace a corrupt post-Soviet government with a modern European-style one based on the rule of law. Ordinary people challenged Vladimir Putin's vision of a distinct "Russian World" unsuited to liberal democracy. What is at stake in Ukraine is thus the future of the entire post-Soviet region.