In the meantime negotiations between Ukraine and the European Union on an Association
Agreement have reached a decisive phase. On March 30, 2012—after five years of intensive
negotiations—the chief negotiators of the EU and Ukraine initialed the text of the
Association Agreement, which included setting up a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade
Area (DCFTA). The text was hailed by some as “the most extensive international legal
document in the entire history of Ukraine and the most extensive international agreement
with a third country ever concluded by the European Union.”[47] Unfortunately, however, due to election fraud and selective justice (the imprisonment
of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko), the EU decided to delay the signing of
the agreement. Although association with the EU would be in the long-term interest
of Ukraine, eventually raising the prospect of EU membership, it is not certain that
the Ukrainian government would make the necessary efforts to take up this opportunity.
Russia, which does not formulate conditions of democratic governance or human rights,
makes things much easier for Yanukovych. Moreover, the benefits (lower energy prices)
are immediate. It is still an open question whether Ukraine will be able to resist
the Russian pressure. On May 22, 2013, the Ukrainian government signed a memorandum
applying for observer status in the Russia-dominated Customs Union.[48] Ukraine considers association with the EU compatible with a similar relationship
with the Customs Union/Eurasian Union. However, this is not the case for Moscow. The
Kremlin put enormous pressure on Viktor Yanukovych to shelve an Association Agreement
with the EU, which the Ukrainian president planned to sign in Vilnius on November
28, 2013. The Kremlin’s blackmail was successful. Yanukovych refused to sign the agreement—the
result of six years of hard, protracted negotiations—in exchange for the Kremlin’s
offer of a $15 billion loan and a discount in the price of Russian gas. Yanukovych
met with mass protests at home. The protesters were not reassured by his statement
that a Ukrainian membership of the Eurasian Union was not (yet) on the agenda. It
is clear, however, that most European governments, treating the relationship with
Ukraine as a technocratic problem, have massively underestimated the important geopolitical
implications of Ukraine’s choice. However, it is not sure that this is also the case
for Moscow. If Ukraine were to opt for deeper integration into the European Union,
a Georgian scenario could not be excluded, in which the Kremlin could provoke riots
in Eastern Ukraine or the Crimea, where many Russian passport holders live. This would
offer Russia a pretext for intervening in Ukraine in order “to protect its nationals”
and dismember the country. Unfortunately, such a scenario cannot be excluded. It is
a corollary of the five principles of Russian foreign policy, formulated by President
Medvedev on August 31, 2008. The fourth principle he mentioned was “protecting the
lives and dignity of our citizens,
