Vladimir Putin's invasion of Crimea in March 2014 stunned the world. The United
States and its Western allies reacted by imposing strict economic sanctions on
Russia in the naïve hope that Putin would be intimidated and change his policy.
At the same time, the United States stressed it would not go to war with Russia
over Ukraine.
A sharp deterioration in East-West relations that has followed, raising basic
questions about the policies of Putin and the future of Russia. Is Putin's
ultimate goal the dissolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
and the end of Western influence and power in Eastern Europe? Or are his goals
more