Ukraine and Russia in Crisis

It is not only in the past that Eastern European borders have repeatedly changed their national sovereignty, but at the present time they are also all but stable phenomena; the borders change constantly. The case of Crimea is an excellent example of such changes. In March 2014, this former Ukrainian region became a part of Russia as a result of political pressure and propaganda on the part of the Russian state, as well as substantial support on the part of Crimean inhabitants. Consequently, this part of the Eastern European continent shifted more into the East. Such border changes would not be possible in Western Europe. It would be impossible, for example, for regions that were formerly part of Germany, but nowadays belong to Denmark or Poland, to become German regions again. Such action would indicate an imperialistic or even chauvinist policy and, as such, would be unacceptable in the European Union. Nevertheless, this is still the reality in Eastern Europe where borders can change very quickly; they are unpredictable. This development, in turn, mirrors neighbourhood relations on the state level. Bilateral relations between Eastern European countries are still very instable, characterized primarily through mistrust and a lack of understanding. This is the case with Ukrainian-Russian, Polish-Russian or Finnish-Russian relations. For this reason, when analysing Eastern European border regions, we are able to draw conclusions about inter-state relations in Eastern Europe.