When Ukraine appeared to be on the verge of exiting Russia’s orbit in late 2013, it took an almighty effort from the Kremlin to drag the then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych back from the precipice. Yanukovych was gone within three months, fleeing into exile in Russia as the Euromaidan demonstrations consumed Ukrainian political life. These events sowed a seed in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s mind about the need to act, which found fertile soil in thinking we can trace back to his fear of the color revolutions and his 2007 speech at the Munich Security Conference. The tragic events we are witnessing now, as division after division of Russian troops pile into Eastern Europe, are the direct result of that seed.
