By Pawel Swieboda
MARCH 18, 2014

It’s not a secret that Ukraine’s aspirations to have closer economic and political ties with the West — and with the European Union in particular — are at the center of its current face-off with Russia. But developing those ties is much easier said than done. In its present state, no one would mistake Ukraine for a European country. Its economy and its political institutions have hardly progressed since 1991, the year the country broke away from the Soviet Union.

Ukraine is fortunate that Poland — a neighbor that successfully managed a similar transition after winning independence from Moscow after the communist period — has shown extraordinary interest in Ukraine’s integration into Europe. Ukraine’s European future will largely depend on the special relationship that has quietly developed between Kiev and Warsaw.

 

Read the full article on the Foreign Affairs website.