1. Russia remained an empire, and the power in this empire was seized by a clique of KGB officers overwhelmed with resentment, led by a complexed asshole. Who had time to build a full-fledged dictatorship, abundantly paid for by revenues from oil, gas and other resources with Europe and the United States indifferent. And who at some point became so confident in their impunity that they decided to go to war in Europe. Of course, for the sake of the most tasty piece that had been torn away from the empire - Ukraine.
“Could it have been otherwise? It is difficult to answer objectively.”
2. Ukraine did not take advantage of the window of opportunity in the 1990s and lost time to integrate into the EU and NATO. Time was already lost in the early 00s. Could we have used that chance in the 1990s and was that window wide enough? It is difficult to answer objectively.
These are the two real fundamental reasons.
Everything else - language, culture, everything else you can think of - is either Russian self-justification or victimization in its purest form. We shouldn't care about Russian self-justifications. But victimization is an extremely harmful thing, so leave people alone. Thank you.
About the author. Yuriy Bohdanov, publicist and strategic communications specialist in business, public administration and politics.
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