Russia has put heavy pressure on Ukraine to join a Russian-led customs union, instead of signing a far-reaching EU-Ukraine pact, SIA reports citing BBC News.
As the Russian and Ukrainian presidents meet again on Tuesday, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, Dmitri Trenin, examines Russia's strategy towards its traditional southern partner.
For Russia's President Vladimir Putin international relations are first and foremost about competition, which is intensifying. His approach towards Ukraine reflects that basic philosophy.
The key themes were reiterated in his State of the Nation address to parliament last week. The principal competitors are "large geopolitical units": the US, China and Europe - though the latter is still not a full-fledged strategic player.
In this context, Russia is one of very few major independent actors. To compete more successfully, Russia must expand its power base by creating an economic, political and military union in Eurasia.
Russia, according to Mr Putin, is not only a strategic unit, but also possesses a separate civilisation, which it shares with several other countries, such as Ukraine and Belarus. That civilisation is both Christian and European, but it is not a simple extension of Western Europe, or the European Union. Rather, it seeks to become the EU's peer.
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