Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Russia, grade: 97%, course: U.S.​ ​Foreign ​ ​Policy​ ​and ​ ​Russia: ​ ​Challenges ​ ​and ​ ​Opportunities, language: English, abstract: This paper aims at measuring the relative impact the West and essentially the United States of America had on two escalations within the post-soviet space, disrupting Russia's sphere of influence. It is focused on a comparative approach, distinguishing differences in how the U.S. weighed in on different developments. We will argue that while the West mingled in Ukraine's internal affairs, contributing to the country's political instability, its implication was very different from the one it had in the 2008 wars in the Caucasus, being Georgia and its territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.