Interesting article. Just based on what I’ve read, it looks like Putin is getting most of what he wants without paying too dear a price. That’s just a first take, though, based on what little time I’ve spent following the situation. I could well be wrong.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Ukraine produced 25% of all agricultural output in the former Soviet Union. Today, Ukraine exports substantial amounts of grain, vegetables, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, milk and meat.
Exports (including non-food exports) go to Russia, 20%; the countries of the European Union, 17%; China, 7%; Turkey, 6%; and the U.S. 4%.
In addition, food processing, especially sugar processing, is an important industrial segment. Nearly one out of four workers in Ukraine is employed in agriculture or forestry related endeavors.
Ukraine: Divvying Up The Breadbasket Of Europe
Though pro-Russian movements in this Donbass region have started to dissipate since the call for a referendum similar to Crimea, Russia looks ready to expand farther, aiming to right the perceived historical injustice when it lost these lands decades prior. If Russia sweeps across eastern Ukraine to occupy the Dnepropetrovsk oblast, it is somewhat likely China will be more keen to offer support and negotiate a settlement with Russia on their various investments. As witnessed many times before, Ukraine is once again at a flashpoint for foreign powers to divvy up the “Breadbasket of Europe.”
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
Its population (as of 2004) is 3,493,062 constitutes 5.3% of the overall Ukrainian population.
As of the 2001 census, the ethnic groups within the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast are:
Ukrainians – 79.3%,
Russians – 17.6%,
Belarusians – 0.8%,
Jews – 0.4%,
Armenians – 0.3%,
Azeris – 0.2%,
Moldavians – 0.12%,
Gypsies – 0.11%,
Tatars – 0.11%,
Germans – 0.11%,
Other – 0.95%;
That was before the deal so the sanctions will be stayed for now.
That said, the Administration is delusional if it really thinks they have or will deter Russia.