'..a successful Ukrainian re-democratization would leave a deeper impression in Russia than the various models, advices and demands that the West has presented to the Kremlin during the last 20 years.'<blockquote>'Because of the close relations and multifarious contacts between Ukrainians and Russians, a successful Ukrainian re-democratization would leave a deeper impression in Russia than the various models, advices and demands that the West has presented to the Kremlin during the last 20 years.
If the Ukrainians could demonstrate that a large eastern Slavic and Orthodox post-Soviet nation is able to build and sustain a real democracy - this would be of all-European importance. It would constitute a more weighty argument for a renewed democratization of the Russian Federation too than the many respective appeals of the EU and US, of the past.
Russia should, in view of its territorial size and geopolitical relevance, surely remain on the radar screen of Western diplomacy. What, however, is overdue is a readjustment of the foreign policy foci of the relevant decision makers in Washington, Brussels and Berlin. Russian issues should not any longer absorb the bulk of attention of Western actors engaged with eastern Europe.'
- Andreas Umland,
Europe's path to Moscow leads through Kiev , 21 April, 2011