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The Empire and Ukraine by Andrew Murray (Manifesto Press, £11.95)

Recent worsening relations between Moscow and Kiev, in the shape of efforts to isolate Crimea and a subsequent termination of Russian gas supplies to its neighbour, underline the dangers to the shaky ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

Western media asserts that blame for friction between the two former Soviet republics lies exclusively with Moscow.

Consensus has it that Russian President Vladimir Putin is intent on prising away the Donetsk and Lugansk provinces from Ukraine towards incorporation in Russia, as Crimea was.

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