Russia is still willing to create the Customs and Eurasian unions but its problem is that it is losing Ukraine in those projects, Ukrainian expert Alexey Poltorakov said in an online interview to ArmInfo.
"Russia does not need Crimea as such. What the Russians need is Ukraine or at least control over the country. They need to prevent the Ukrainians from joining NATO or integrating into the EU," Poltorakov said.
He said that the Ukrainians expected the West to actively support it in their conflict with the Russians but received much less than they hoped for. "Nevertheless, our society is consolidating and this helps us to keep things under control," the Ukrainian expert said.
Supported by the British embassies in Armenia and Azerbaijan, Region Research Center (Armenia) and Peace and Democracy Institute (Azerbaijan) are organizing online interviews of Armenian and Azeri mass media with experts from various countries concerning urgent problems. The interviews are part of a project aimed to expand knowledge of Armenians and Azerbaijani about each other and to build confidence through first-hand information.