The European Union took effect with the entry into force of the Treaty of Maastricht in November 1993. The next year, it signed a bilateral cooperation and partnership agreement with Ukraine, then a young Slavic Republic, which had declared independence as early as July 1990, before the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In a referendum held that same month, 91% of Ukrainians had voted in favour of independence, which took the form of a parliamentary democracy with a...