ABSTRACT
The immediate crisis had its roots in the negotiations regarding the Association Agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Ukraine, exacerbated by American interference in Ukrainian internal politics. The EU had sought a network of relations with non-member, neighbouring states to establish close economic and political cooperation. The ongoing Ukraine crisis constitutes a major external threat to the EU, even as the EU’s inability to develop and sustain a consistent response to the crisis exposes the EU’s current weakness. Europe’s economic woes certainly contribute to its vacillation over how to respond to Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and its reluctance to put a strong regime of economic sanctions into place. The Euromaidan Revolution brought a fundamental shift in Russian policy towards the Ukraine and the EU. The EU had a major, although hardly sole, role in unleashing the current crisis in Ukraine.
