central to its grand strategy. for putin, it is a key russian national interest and russia is next door, has deep ties to the country. ukrainians have told me that russian spies are active in every part of the country, including the government. so putin can find many ways to keep ukraine crippled, weak and dysfunctional. trenen speculates if moscow s negotiations with nato were to fail, russia might recognize the two eastern ukrainian provinces where separatists have already proclaimed people s republics. moscow has already used the same approach with georgia where russia has recognized the two russian dominated parts of the country as independent states. one crucial question that we should ask is where is putin doing this now? partly he sees nato creating a de facto alliance with kyiv, but putin must be aware that this is a moment of russian strength.
russia has recognized the two russian dominated parts of the country as independent states. one crucial question that we should ask is why is putin doing this now? partly he sees nato creating a de facto alliance with kyiv, but putin must be aware that this is a moment of russian strength. at a time when there is a growing energy crisis around the world, russia has consolidated its position as an energy super power. energy prices are rising across the globe, but perhaps nowhere as sharply as in europe. the price of natural gas used by most europeans to heat their homes rose by more than 400% in 2021. yet in recent years most european countries have been shutting down their gas production, even as they ve been unable to ramp up renewables to completely take their place. the result, they are critically dependent on russian gas. meanwhile, ukraine, which has