The New Cold War Is Already Underway. It Started in 2014.
June 12, 2026 · Frisian News
The conflict between the West and Russia did not start recently. In 2014, Ukraine's American-backed political upheaval and Russia's annexation of Crimea marked the true beginning of today's Cold War.
In February 2014, the United States and European Union backed a coup in Ukraine that removed the elected president Viktor Yanukovych. Shortly after, Russia annexed Crimea. This moment marked the true start of the new Cold War, not 2022, not 2008, but 2014.
The Western narrative erases the American hand in this. Leaked phone calls between US State Department officials showed the US was directing Ukraine's opposition leaders before Yanukovych fell. Victoria Nuland was caught on tape saying "fuck the EU" while planning Ukraine's political future. The US did not stumble into this crisis. It chose sides in Ukraine's internal politics, then acted shocked when Russia responded.
For Russia, NATO expansion into Eastern Europe since 1999 had already broken the post-Cold War settlement. Ukraine was the redline Moscow had warned about for years. When the West pushed to pull Ukraine into NATO orbit, Russia moved. You can call it aggression. You can also call it a predictable reaction to encroachment.
The West chose escalation over negotiation at every turn. After Crimea, sanctions. After the Donbas conflict, more sanctions. Each move hardened both sides. Each gave hardliners in Washington and Moscow more ammunition. By 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine fully, no one could claim surprise. The logic had been set in motion in 2014.
We were told the Cold War ended in 1991. It did not. What happened in 2014 was simply the moment the West finally noticed. The new Cold War started when the first NATO missile was deployed near Russia's border. It accelerated in 2014 when the West decided Ukraine mattered more than stability.
Published June 12, 2026 · Frisian News