In February 2014, Catherine Ashton flew to Kyiv to hold talks with Ukraine’s embattled president, Viktor Yanukovych. For four years, she had been the European Union’s top envoy. As its first ever high representative for foreign affairs and security, Ashton was used to dealing with crises. Her in-tray included Iran’s nuclear programme; a rumbling dispute between Serbia and Kosovo; and natural disasters around the world, from an earthquake in Haiti to the tsunami in Japan.
This one was precipitated by Yanukovych’s decision to pull out abruptly from an association agreement with the EU. It prompted thousands of protesters to set up camp in the Maidan – Independence Square – in the centre of Kyiv. They spent weeks demonstrating in the cold. Lurking in the background was a spectre: Russia. Or, more accurately, Vladimir Putin, a chilly and “unsmiling” leader with a “deep sense of grievance”. Over the years she got to know him well.
