Putin and the Kremlin elite fear the pro-democracy movement in Ukraine, and they are willing to take considerable risks, both financial and military, to limit or destroy it
The media have been alive with reports that Russian president Vladimir Putin was ready to use atomic weapons if the West forcefully intervened to prevent Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula, a part of the nation of Ukraine. Putin's use of force and his readiness to resort to nuclear weapons indicate what is at state for Moscow in the annexation of Crimea and in eastern Ukraine as well.