Number: RL30984
Title: Ukraine's Future and U.S. Policy Issues
Authors: Steven Woehrel, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: More than a dozen years after achieving independence, Ukraine continues to undergo a difficult transition to democracy and a free market economy. It is also undergoing a related search for its identity, as either an independent, central European state or as a close partner of Russia, with which most of Ukraine has close linguistic, cultural, religious and historic ties. The possibilities for Ukraines long-term future run a spectrum from participating in a prosperous, democratic, free market Europe, to being part of a poor, semi-authoritarian, corrupt post-Soviet region.
Pages: 13
Date: February 27, 2004