Putin’s gamble: the risks and rewards of invading Ukraine

The economic effects of the 2014 Crimean takeover hint at what would come after for Russia and its taken territories

02 February 2022 - 19:38 By Marc Champion

About a kilometre from a border post that marks the last Ukrainian controlled territory before Crimea, soldiers suddenly emerge from the long sea grass to check on an idling car.

Their concern over who comes and goes is no surprise. Should Russia decide to invade Ukraine as feared by the US, tanks and infantry would pour across this narrow causeway connecting the peninsula to the wide open steppe of southern Ukraine in numbers Europe hasn’t seen since 1945...

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