next possible flashpoints

Vladimir Putin has defended his annexation of Crimea as a necessary step to protect Russian-speakers from Ukraine's new post-revolutionary government. But Western leaders fear this pretext could also be used to justify an invasion of other areas of Ukraine with large Russian-speaking minorities, particularly the three eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin's new doctrine might even extend to incorporating the Russian-speaking region of Transdniester in Moldova, on the far side of Ukraine.