| Summary: | This dissertation critically interprets the international dimension of the Ukrainian crisis in 2013, crisis that intensified in the 2014 and resulted in an armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia in eastern part of Ukraine and occupation of Crimea. It argues this crisis to be simultaneously the result and the intensification of the collision of antagonist and foreign policies towards the contested borders of Ukraine between NATO and Russia. Notwithstanding Ukrainian domestic dimension related to recent and incomplete transition of the country after Soviet Union collapse and its independence, Ukrainian crisis has an inseparable international dimension to it. Analyzed from an international perspective, the events that started in Kiev in November of 2013 can be linked to the competition between the NATO and Russia for security in their shared neighborhood. After Soviet Union collapse in 1991, Russia fell into complex crisis in political, social, economic and national identity domains. In the foreign policy sphere, an internal debate started on what role Russia should perform, at regional or on global level in the post-Cold War background. In this context, Ukraine is inseparable ally and shield for Russia from West pressure near Russia borders, from EU enlargement and NATO expansion, which is considered as treat for Russian security. Russia combined a whole range of arguments to protect its borders, sphere of influence and its citizens in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin in 2014 presented those arguments in his address to the State Duma. This research intends to provide a contribution to the literature on Crimean crisis, Russian foreign policy and political discourse.
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