The International Context: Russia, Ukraine and the Drift to East-West Confrontation

President Putin is widely portrayed as a threat to peace and to the international order; and Russian intervention in Ukraine and Crimea is often taken as a measure of this aggressive external policy. It is contended that aggression in international affairs has different causes and consequences. The paper examines the crisis posed in Ukraine following the flight of President Yanukovich and the institution of a pro-NATO and pro-European Union government. Russia's actions are considered in the wider context of the political transformation in Soviet space, the enlargement of the European Union and the expansion of NATO. Russia's economic and military strengths and weaknesses are outlined against the background of the development of the Eurasian Economic Union. It is contended that Russian policy under President Putin has been defensive and reactive.