Ben Aris, editor-in-chief of bne IntelliNews, discusses Vladimir Putin’s motivations for recognising the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, NATO expansion causing major security concerns for Russia, Ukraine’s Zelensky declaring that he won’t implement the Minsk agreements – a trigger point for Putin, Ukraine tensions posing the biggest crisis for the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the severity and effects of forthcoming Western sanctions on Russia, and much more.