(Ukranian Weekly) Ukrainians were interested in joining the European Union before the Euro-Maidan, but it was not at the top of their list of nation-building priorities. The idea of Ukrainians identifying themselves with Western Europe, rather than with Russia, did not generate enough power to mobilize the nation until 2014.
In a recent lecture at the Shevchenko Scientific Society’s chapter in Montreal, Olexiy Haran, professor of comparative politics at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy and the academic director of the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, reviewed the events and the Ukrainian people’s attitudes that shaped Kyiv’s policy over the last life-changing four years.
To begin with, it was only after then-President Viktor Yanukovych’s rejection of Ukraine’s future membership in NATO, his subsequent refusal to sign the Association Agreement with the EU, and only after the Euro-Maidan that public opinion toward Ukraine’s membership in these organizations changed. […]
“All Ukrainians,” Prof. Haran said, “want peace, but not peace at any price.” In the Western international community, Prof. Haran said, the war has fostered a better understanding of Eastern Europe and its historic relationship with Russia, and it has consolidated various countries’ views on Putin’s politics.
Read More © The Ukrainian Weekly
– – – – –
Also see: Olexiy Haran and Mariia Zolkina, "The Demise of Ukraine’s “Eurasian Vector” and the Rise of Pro-NATO Sentiment," PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo No. 458, February 16, 2017
