The political crisis that began last November when then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych declined to sign an association agreement with the European Union has triggered conflict between Russia and Ukraine and a sharp deterioration in relations between the West and Moscow. Seven points provide key context for understanding what is happening.
First, Ukraine today finds itself in a vulnerable position largely due to bad decisions by its own political leaders. They put off needed economic reforms because they feared the political consequences. And sometimes—Yanukovych being the prime example—they put personal power and greed ahead of the national interest.
Those bad decisions had costs. For example, in 1990, shortly before the USSR collapsed, GDP per capita in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and neighboring Poland were roughly equal. If anything, Poland trailed. Today, Poland’s GDP per capita is three times that of Ukraine. Polish leaders made the often-tough decisions; Ukraine’s did not.
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