Ukrainian Roundtable Discussion

It’s no secret that the Ukrainian crisis has got out of hand. However besides the fact that it has led to thousands of civilian deaths, the Ukrainian crisis has made the contradictions in the foreign policy of Russia and the West so evident that people have compared it to the Cold War. With both sides playing the blame game, it’s obvious that pointing fingers and throwing around dangerous accusations have brought about no good. Annexation, fascism and nationalists are so often spoken about that people seem to have developed an emotional callous to them.

During the roundtable discussion on the Ukrainian Crisis at the Russian International Affairs Council held on Thursday, July 2 2015, experts butted heads over the possible solutions. The springboard for the discussion was the new report “The Ukrainian Crisis for Russia”, written by A. Gushin, S. Markedonov and A. Tsibulina, in which the authors presented a detailed analysis of the current state of the crisis. Although no clear conclusion was reached, all the experts agreed on the urgency of solving the matter, as military interference, peaceful mediation and multiple attempts at a ceasefire have proved to be unsuccessful.