The New York Times: Waiting to see if Ukraine tilts east or west

Published Nov. 17, 2013 at 9:55 am

Curiously, the ferocious tug-of-war between Russia and the European Union over Ukraine has come down to whether Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukrainian prime minister who is serving a seven-year prison sentence, is freed in the next few days.

In less than two weeks, Ukraine is supposed to sign an “association agreement” with the European Union at an E.U. summit meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania. The agreement is far short of E.U. membership, or even candidacy for membership, but it includes a free-trade pact and promises of financial aid that Ukraine, in dire straits, desperately needs.