Summary/Abstract |
I AM AFRAID that the Ukrainian developments have sucked us into another phase of fundamental changes, the second after the Soviet Union's disintegration twenty years ago. The continent is split which means detrimental and long-term repercussions for Europe. There is no new wall yet there is a crevasse which crosses the territory of a single European civilization called Russia and Europe in which people of Russia no longer feel at home.The Ukrainian crisis brought to the fore what had been going on during the last two decades: numerous political advantages lost amid diplomatic misunderstandings and economic blunders. The West, Europe in particular, is responsible to a great extent for the entanglements: when dealing with Russia Brussels deliberately ignored Russian culture and development dynamics; it proceeded solely from its own ideas about politics and the future order. The Russians, meanwhile, prefer a different development model while Putin is convinced that we are watching the decline of Europe and erosion of European values.
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