That gives Russia 9 years to allow everything there of any assetable value to fall into a serious state of disrepair. Not that it will be an issue to those in the Rada of course, I am sure there will be EC grants available for the reconstruction of the area and some of it will actually reach the region
.
In the "grand scheme of things" however a small price to pay for NATO membership (if they can get it past the population of Ukraine and the political direction of Ukraine does not change in the next 9 years - at least 2 elections prior to this date) and EU membership (which seems to rely upon NATO membership even though it should not and nowhere does it state that it is a pre-requisite as both are two completely seperate organisations with completely seperate functions.........just ask Turkey who are an active NATO member country but cannot get into the EU for love or money).
With Ukraine (according to Ukrainian Government statistics (and therefore not necessarily accurate)) doing more business (at least "recordable business") with the EU than with Russia (who knows
) and Russia also doing more business with the EU than with Ukraine, it defies common sense that Ukraine should not be afforded EU membership with or without NATO membership sooner rather than later. I would expect, at the very least, in the autumn that they will receive their EU Associate Member Status, similar to Norway and Switzerland with the Russian Black Sea Fleet still in situ on Ukrainian soil, thus defeating the arguement that NATO membership has to be a pre-requisite of EU membership as they will hold the same status as many who have not got Russian military hardware on their soil with regards to the EU.
