Moscow-Washington reconciliation crux for peace

The Ukraine crisis originates from the Crimean War fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and the alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Sardinia-Piedmont, rather than the 2014 Crimean crisis. The strife between Russia and the West over this region, open and secret, has never ceased since then.

This time, as long as Russia and the United States, the new leader of the West, do not reach a new strategic balance, there will be no substantial improvement in the situation in Ukraine.

True, it is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's eastward expansion since the 1990s that has spurred Moscow to launch its "special military action". However, it is worth asking why Russia now opposes it fiercely, since it once winked at the NATO's eastward expansion after the Cold War.