This is what Time mag had to say on this issue LAST WEEK!
ZitatWhoever wins will then face the greatest challenge of all, Ukraine’s economy, an utter shambles that needs to be fixed soon to avoid a nasty chain reaction — a default on the national debt, a collapse in the currency value, galloping inflation, spiking prices of basic goods and, ultimately, a very angry populace. “So it’s quite possible that in a few months’ time we’ll see protests gathering outside the house of the current leaders [of the revolution],” Vladimir Oleynik, an outspoken member of the Yanukovych regime, told me recently. And he is right. After two successful uprisings in the past 10 years, Ukrainians have developed a taste for protest. They are great at it, and they will use their people power no matter who is in charge. (On Tuesday, the new leadership already had to postpone the process of forming a new government after protesters said the procedure was not sufficiently transparent.)
So what does all that mean for Russia? It means that to undermine Ukraine’s new leadership, the last thing Russia should do is send in troops. Nothing unites rival political forces like a common enemy, especially a foreign aggressor. Besides, any attack on Ukraine right now would raise the chances of a militantly anti-Russian candidate becoming the next President of Ukraine. So the gentle and accommodating tone of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday should not come as a surprise. During a visit to Luxembourg, Lavrov said Russia had “confirmed our principled position of nonintervention in Ukraine’s internal affairs.” He even suggested that Russia respected the European choice of the Ukrainian people: “We are interested in Ukraine being part of the European family, in all senses of the word,” Lavrov said.