As Vladimir Putin engaged in marathon peace negotiations with Germany, France, and Ukraine in the capital of Belarus, Russian tanks were allegedly rolling into Ukraine.
So as a inherently flawed peace deal is in place, the circumstances surrounding the agreement say a lot more than the "glimmer of hope" provided by the latest compromise.
"The EU and NATO are Mr Putin's ultimate targets," The Economist writes. "To him, Western institutions and values are more threatening than armies. He wants to halt their spread, corrode them from within and, at least on the West's fragile periphery, supplant them with his own model of governance."
