They could use Russian banks if the Western banks will be closed to them, no?How about closing access to western banks for oligarchs. It seems like a lot of western banking institutions were colluding and helping create oligarchs.
They could use Russian banks if the Western banks will be closed to them, no?
Also, I would like to point out that, in our TL, the Ukraine crisis started over an E.U. association agreement with Ukraine; indeed, NATO membership wasn't even discussed as a goal for Ukraine (to my knowledge, at least).
Indeed, the great irony might be that had Russia not intervened in Ukraine, the issue of NATO membership for Ukraine might have never garnered serious support there.
The problem with that statement is that wherever the EU goes NATO usually follows.
False--indeed, just look at Austria, Sweden, and Finland--they're longtime E.U. members but have no intention of joining NATO.The problem with that statement is that wherever the EU goes NATO usually follows. No amount of promises that NATO won't expand will be good enough for Russia. Russia needs a frozen conflict in Ukraine.
It's rather late but since the thread has been reactivated we actually had a related thread, Why the Russian Attempt at Liberalism in the 1990s Went So Badly?, a week or two back in which @Bakenellan posted a link to a piece by the economist Jeffrey Sachs who acted as an advisor in Eastern Europe about the situation in Russia at the time, what he suggested/thought should be done, and what happened titled What I Did in Russia. It's definitely worth a read.So what would happen if America had followed Nixon's advice and the next President of the USA had made it a priority to help the Yeltsin team in Russia reform the country's politics and economy? Could US help be made available in sufficient quantity to really change the Russian trajectory during the 90s? And if the slide towards the oligarchic authoritarianism of OTL's Putin era can be avoided, just how big an effect would that have on the world? Would Russia as a relative success story and American ally have as big an impact as Nixon expected back in '92?