Russia versus the West: Facing the long‐term challenge
Journal: Economic Affairs
Year: 2022

In late February 2022, the prospect of a quick and efficient decapitation of Ukraine's political leadership, followed by the installation of a puppet government in Kyiv, was greeted in Western capitals with a certain grim resignation. Western governments might protest and impose limited sanctions on Russia, taking care that none would inflict an undue burden on their own economies, but nothing could be done to prevent Ukraine – along with Belarus, Moldova and perhaps Kazakhstan – being reintegra