The Crisis in Ukraine: An Insider's View Russie.Nei.Visions, No. 78, June 2014
By the end of 2013 the numerous miscalculations of the Yanukovych regime had deepened the systemic crisis in Ukraine, the crux of which was the tension between the people's hopes of independence and the inefficiency of the country's post-Soviet political and social system.
The 2013-2014 revolution in Kiev paved the way for systemic reforms, but at the same time exposed the weaknesses of Ukrainian statehood. Russia's leadership perceived this overthrow as the failure of Yanukovych's policies and resorted to measures including the annexation of Ukraine's territory, as well as encouraging and supporting armed separatist movements Ukraine's Russian-speaking regions. Together, this has spawned the biggest crisis in Ukraine's history and threatens its integrity, sovereignty and civil peace. At the same time and under these semi-warlike conditions, a process of consolidation of the country's population has started to develop around the question of Ukrainian identity.