Paul Goble, originally on Window on Eurasia

Staunton, April 28 – Vladimir Putin’s moves against Ukraine are part of his larger plan not only to restore a country with the borders of the USSR but also to re-establish Moscow’s dominance in Eastern Europe and in Asia, according to Vitaly Portnikov in a comment to Gordunua.com.

Putin clearly wants to occupy “all of Ukraine, Kaakhstan, Moldova, Belarus and the other former Soviet republics, Portnikov wrote yesterday, but that is only is “minimum program.”  If he achieves that, he and his supporters plan to seek a return to the post-Yalta arrangements in Eastern Europe and, working with China, to restore Moscow’s influence in Asia as well (gordonua.com/news/politics/Portnikov-Vosstanovlenie-SSSR-programma-minimum-Putina-dalshe-on-dvinetsya-v-centralnuyu-Evropu-20101.html).