Leonid Bershidsky, Columnist

Putin Outfoxes Ukraine's Protesters

In one masterstroke, Putin has managed to undermine Ukraine's protesters and expand his geopolitical influence.

December 19, 2013 at 3:03 PM UTC

Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwell’s “1984” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

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Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to provide Ukraine with more than $15 billion in aid is much more than a show of support for embattled Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. It is a political masterstroke that undermines the Ukrainian opposition and gives Russia more control over its neighbor than ever before.

At first glance, Putin has given Ukraine a great deal. Russia's National Welfare Fund will lend Ukraine $15 billion by purchasing newly issued government bonds, and state-controlled Gazprom will lower the price of natural gas for Ukraine from $406 per thousand cubic meters to $268.50. There's no overt quid pro quo: Putin stressedthat the two leaders did not discuss Ukraine's membership in a customs union with Russia. He didn't even hint that the aid was conditional on Ukraine abandoning its dreams of closer integration with Europe.