re: #115 Dark_Falcon

There is the traditional “sphere of influence” concerns, but Russia ships natural gas to Europe via pipelines running through Ukraine. Russia also still bases ships out of Sevastopol in the Crimea. Lastly is the fact that most of the population of the eastern par of Ukraine is ethnic Russian.

My impression is that having had the baltic states fall into the NATO sphere of influence is something that Russia is willing to grudgingly accept, but having the same thing happen in the Ukraine would be unthinkable to the Russians.