L’analisi di Taras Kuzio per Atlantic Council: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has underlined the security threat posed by the continued existence of a geopolitical gray zone on Europe’s eastern flank. For decades, countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova have sought to distance themselves from post-Soviet Russia but have failed to achieve full integration into the Western world via membership of NATO and the European Union. Instead, these countries have received vague promises of future progress along with compromise measures such as the EU’s Eastern Partnership. This has proved a costly blunder. By signaling to the Kremlin that they were not ready to integrate the countries of the former USSR, Western leaders encouraged Moscow to believe it could reverse the verdict of 1991. This set the stage for a new era of Russian imperial aggression, beginning with the 2008 invasion of Georgia and escalating dramatically since 2014 in Ukraine.
Putin’s invasion has strengthened the case for Ukrainian NATO membership – Atlantic Council
