The Europeans disagree over what went wrong. To some, Mr Yanukovych played them as fools, using the EU deal to improve Russia’s offer. To others, the EU was wrong to insist on the release of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister jailed by Mr Yanukovych. A third theory holds that the EU offer lacked a crucial element: the promise of eventual EU membership. A fourth says the very notion of an “eastern partnership” was misconceived. It was born out of the failure in 2008 to put Ukraine and Georgia on the road to NATO membership. Extending the EU’s economic border, as opposed to NATO’s military one, was seen as less provocative. But Russia came to treat it as equally objectionable.
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