Political scientist Paul D'Anieri analyzes post-Cold War Ukraine and the events that led up to the 2014 Crimean Crisis.

When the USSR collapsed in 1991, Ukraine gained its independence relatively peacefully.

However, two decades later, the country would find itself at the epicenter of what has been called the New Cold War.

Paul D'Anieri is Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of California, as well as Vice President of the American Association of Ukrainian studies.

In his third book on Ukraine, D'Anieri examines how Russia's invasion and annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 was the result of two decades of simmering tensions, aggravated by Ukraine's crucial geopolitical position within the West-Russia divide.