The capitalist dream of using Ukraine as a beachhead to conduct capitalism-as-usual has huge problem to contend with. Moscow controls 63% of coal deposits, 20% of its natural gas, 42% of its metals, and 30% of its rare earth.
This article also provides an excellent history of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union up to today. Putin is presented in a very straight-forward manner by Marxian political economist, Michael Roberts.
Read in The Next Recession