From Deutsche Welle: Medvedev is unlikely to lose much sleep over any EU response should the Kremlin – one way or another – install its favored candidate in the Kyiv hot seat. The EU, currently hugely dependent on Russian gas, imposed no serious penalty on Moscow over the war with Georgia and recent signs hint that Russia will escape just as lightly if it succeeds in undercutting Ukraine’s independence.

At their recent meeting Chancellor Merkel, standing beside Medvedev when he so publicly severed ties with Ukraine in Sochi, remained silent on the issue.

Merkel, the head of the EU’s largest country, offered no support for Ukraine as a democratic partner, nor defended the right of its people to choose their leaders for themselves, stunning Ukrainian officials with her reticence while presumably prompting quiet satisfaction in Moscow. (photo: AP)