According to him, Russia’s future policy regarding Ukraine will basically remain the same. “The most radical changes in the relations between both countries happened in 2005-2006 when there was a transition from strategic partnership to pragmatic links. It was then that Russia realized the futility of the CIS free market and lost any interest in Ukraine as candidate for close economic links. Following the liberalization of trade links, high-tech cooperation between both countries dwindled,” Yermolayev noted.

Ukraine is interesting to Russia as a living space and supplier of raw materials. I mean industrial raw materials as an element of a new distribution of labor going on in Russia and EuroAsia. More specifically, Russia will show interest in Ukraine’s coal, steel and, chemical sectors, infrastructure and communications as well as arable land, Andry Yermolayev concluded.