On Friday, Ukraine’s new Western-backed President Petro Poroshenko signed a landmark free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) pact that distances his nation further from its former Russian master. It defies the plans of Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure his country by guaranteeing its neighbors’—specially Ukraine’s—loyalty. It has been observed also that Mr. Putin, using the ancient image of Holy Russia, is planning to revive, not quite the Soviet Empire, but the moral and physical might of a modern Imperial Russia.
The EU pact had actually been rejected by Poroshenko’s pro-Moscow predecessor, despite the overwhelming support of it by the Ukrainian parliament and people. The rejection plunged the ex-Soviet country into turmoil and plunged EU-Russian relations to the lowest level since the Cold War.
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