What does Russia want?

November 19; 2014

President Vladimir Putin's aims are unclear. He backed the Minsk peace deal and, after months of talks, Russia agreed a deal to resume gas supplies to Ukraine.

What is not known is whether Mr Putin is prepared for a resumption of full-scale hostilities.

While the Kremlin has repeatedly denied supplying troops and sophisticated military hardware to the rebels, Alexander Zakharchenko, the Donetsk rebel leader, said in August that 3-4,000 Russian citizens had been fighting alongside the rebels. The recent surge in violence has brought fresh reports of troop and artillery movement.

One question that remains unanswered is whether Russia feels it needs a land corridor to Crimea.

Although a costly bridge or tunnel is due to be built from the mainland across the Kerch Strait to the peninsula, if the separatists were to capture Mariupol, that would pave the way for access further west along the coast to Crimea.