Los Angeles Times: “No more Mr. Nice Putin”

As Winter Olympic Game in Sochi ends, the less kind, less gentle Putin is expected to return. He will turn his attention to Russia’s neighbours who have tried to strengthen ties with the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance, said journalists in an article published in American media last week.

The article is written by Fiona Hill and Steven Pifer who are senior fellows at the Brookings Institution in Washington. The above statement was drawn from their essay in Brookings' "Big Bets & Black Swans: A Presidential Briefing Book” published in the Los Angeles Times on February 6.

The authors believed Moldova and Georgia were prime targets of Russia, having initialed agreements with the EU in November. Russia made all efforts to keep these countries within its leverage.

The Sochi Olympics will come and go, and the less kind, less gentle Putin will be back. He is likely to turn attention to Russia's neighbours that drew closer to the European Union last year — to punish them and to try to drag them back into Moscow's fold.|/

Read the full article on: www.latimes.com