In the last three years with the humdrum of events in the Middle East, the European immigration crisis and a host of other competing geopolitical issues, somehow the crisis in Ukraine, which came into being in 2014, and its potential implications for European security bypassed most international concerns. The Russians have been playing a game of denial while preventing freedom of navigation to Ukraine to access its eastern region by sea. This region is home to two important ports, Berdyansk and Mariupol, from which major Ukraine export and import trade is carried out. While economic sanctions by the US-led Western alliance were placed early and continue, there are three reasons for the continuing crisis. In the meanwhile, the oligarchs who run Ukraine are unable to revamp its economy unless the country steps towards either of the competing camps.

Source: dna December 22, 2018 01:40 UTC