Be Prepared to Play Long Game on Ukraine

With U.S. President Barack Obama visiting Europe and an emergency G7 meeting having taken place in The Hague, the heated debate about the West's proper response to Russian power politics is entering the next round. Policymakers and pundits have recommended many courses of action. In reality, however, the EU and the United States have only two options. First, they can return to the status quo ante. That would put Kiev under Moscow's de facto control on both domestic and external matters. Or, second, they can invest heavily in the new government in Kiev and be prepared to engage in a permanent simmering conflict with Russia in Eastern Europe. Over recent weeks, Russia's goal in Ukraine has become all too clear: it wants to regain previous levels of political and economic control over a country it has always considered its own. Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot allow Western liberal democracy to flourish on his doorstep. The Kremlin must also demonstrate that the unexpected power shift in Kiev was an accident, and that Moscow is still the final geopolitical arbiter in the region.