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How Easter, V-E day may affect Ukraine crisis

If Russia decides to invade eastern Ukraine, the timing may depend on the calendar.

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Marko Djurica/Reuters
A pro-Russia protester throws a tire on a barricade in front of a Ukrainian airbase in Kramatorsk April 15, 2014. If a Russian intervention is coming, it may depend on the calendar.

Many world stock exchanges fell Tuesday as traders kept an eye out for any signs that Russian tanks are about to roll into eastern Ukraine. But the calendar isn’t quite right for any major military moves by Russia, at least in the next week or so.

For starters, talks between the US, the EU, Ukraine, and Russia are planned for Thursday in Geneva. Then comes the most important religious holiday on the Russian Orthodox calendar: Easter will be celebrated both in Russia and the West on April 20 this year.

“Most people think that Putin is not going to make a major military incursion before Easter of all holidays,” says our correspondent in Ukraine.

However, one date to watch is May 8, V-E Day. The holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany “has incredible resonance, much more so in Russia than it does in the West." ... For the rest of the story, continue reading at our new business publication Monitor Global Outlook. 

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