| Summary/Abstract |
In a piece published in the June–July issue of Survival, I considered ‘Ukraine and the Art of Crisis Management’.1 My aim was to explore the relevance of the strategic concepts of the Cold War to the unfolding drama of Ukraine, and in particular the challenge of securing essential interests without triggering a wider war. I judged the crisis to have been badly managed by Russia, not particularly well by the West, and with great difficulty by Ukraine. The consequences of the failure of crisis management lay not so much in expanding the area of conflict but instead in a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and the West, and continuing and unsettling violence within Ukraine. The result was that, over subsequent months, the role of Russian forces within Ukraine became more direct and overt, as the more irregular separatist forces were unable to cope.
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