During the Cold War, both Washington and Moscow actively encouraged, financed, and supported proxy wars across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the eyes of many influential figures in Moscow, that is precisely what is happening in Ukraine today.
Ukrainian oligarchs face a very real threat of seeing parts of their business empires disrupted by a political crisis over which they have no control.
Ukrainians on the Maidan and in a growing number of cities across the country are standing in opposition to backsliding into autocracy, in defense of fundamental democratic values, and in defiance of a corrupt post-Soviet system.