EuroMaidan Revolution
Bartlomiej Nowak: Time for EU to play hardball with Ukraine
The recent offer by the European Union and suspension by Ukraine of an association agreement was a classic case of misperception. The European Union thought that the deal it offered Kyiv was attractive enough to make the choice between Europe and Russia a simple one. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, on the other hand, believed that he could occupy the middle ground by playing Russia and the EU against one another. Both sides viewed the EU as a power - rather than as a model - and built their strategies on that assumption.