Journalist Vitaly Portnikov stated this on Espreso TV."If in 2014, instead of offering Ukrainians to fight for Crimea and Donbas, Russia had offered its guarantees to a government of national unity in Kyiv led by some neutral businessman or politician, and also declared understanding between the east, west, and south, then Ukraine would have been in Russia's sphere of influence for 10 years already. Ukraine always had half of a Russian-centric population whose votes could be manipulated and who were ready to vote for any politician who promised coexistence with Russia. In 2014, these people still made up half of the Ukrainian electorate. If it weren't for the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas, Russia would have had all the political opportunities to control our country and prevent its entry into the EU and NATO," Portnikov explained.The journalist emphasized that if Russia had not started the war against Ukraine, Kyiv would have been controlled by Moscow, as is currently the case with Georgia."In this context, Georgia is an excellent example; it signed an association agreement with the EU but remains a country where Russian businesses continue to manage its resources. I am confident that this would have been the case in Ukraine as well. There would simply have been a revanche after Maidan. Just as there was a revanche in 2010, it would have happened in 2019. However, Russia chose an illogical path," he added.