The EU this year lost a battle for Ukraine, but nobody is laughing at its soft power any more.
Ever since the Orange Revolution in 2004, the EU and Russia have been pulling the former Soviet republic in opposite directions.
The EU incentive was a "deep and comprehensive" free trade agreement, or DCFTA, described by the people who drafted it as a "blueprint for future accession."
Russia's tactics included: threatening to block trade; calling in billion dollar gas debts; and ...
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Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.