20.02.2014 - 10:12 [ GlobalTimes.cn ]

West-Russia rivalry bleeds Ukraine dry

Ukraine used to be the fourth wealthiest republic in the former Soviet Union, the collapse of which endowed it with an opportunity to gain independence but also opened a Pandora‘s box of ethnic conflicts between west and east Ukraine. The Orange Revolution in 2004 further framed the bleak scenario in the nation that split between pro-European regions in the west and Russia-oriented ones in the east.