Russia Likely Covets Ukrainian Military Industry, Says Vare
Transit expert and former Estonian minister Raivo Vare said the large Ukrainian military industry could be the real reason Russia covets Ukraine.
Speaking on ETV on Tuesday, Vare said roughly 70 companies in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine produce weapons and parts for Russia.
Many of Russia's strategic weapons, such as the SS-18 intercontinental ballistic missile, which carry 40 percent of the nation's nuclear weapons, are made entirely in Ukraine and maintained by a company in Dnipropetrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
Vare said there are three scenarios to the Ukraine crisis: negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, the US and the EU, a Crimea-style take-over by Russia or a low-level civil war where partisans backed by Russia fight the Ukrainian central authority.