The thing is that the west states that Russia is not allowed a sphere of influence and that all countries that border Russia should be free to make their own decisions without interference.
I think it is easier for the EU/EU to lure the West of Ukraine since the Western part of Ukraine have been occupied by Poles, Austrians, Germans (and now US and EU) have all worked to change that by supporting cultural/religious conversion, or at least independent Ukrainian identity (preferably anti-Russian).
When you say lure, you mean pull from Russias sphere of influence into the wests sphere of influence... in other words move from a place of partial Russian influence to Washington dominance via brussels...
The amusing thing is that the alienation of Russia from its neighbours by the west (which is not always successful BTW) has led Russia to look elsewhere for customers and trade partners. An american government official might see Russian moves to trade with central and south american countries as a response to try to hurt the US by undermining its sphere of influence/domination in the region, but it is actually quite normal... when a country is pushed out of a market it will always seek new markets to expand into to compensate... so america, asia, and africa will all be looked at to find new markets.... nothing to do with revenge or undermining the western sphere of influence in return... it is just commercial interests.
were very anti-Russian, byproduct of which can be seen in the Western part of Ukraine and could be seen during the Maidan.
All very true, but at the heart of it this is all about money... the ones turning west truly believe that the EU will save them... what they don't realise is that the Ukraine is not EU material the way it is... it will have to be broken down and destroyed and then rebuilt in the EU image to have a chance... and even then I doubt they will prosper... they don't have much to offer and have not much in common with the EU. they have to have laws to force locals to speak the native language...
I am sure they will enjoy being the front line for the new cold war...
Whereas the East and South of Ukraine tends to take the Russian side because they are culturally and, more importantly, religiously affiliated with Russia. What I am saying is that Ukraine is a deeply divided country and the US/EU underestimated it, now we have violent conflicts in Donbas. I suggest watch a documentary by the BBC called Why some Ukrainians want to be part of Russia? Very interesting, people in the West should watch it all to understand why some support the West and why other support Russia.
Sorry, the only BBC I will listen to is the Russian Air Force (VVS). The BBC has no credibility in my house.
To be honest I think Russia will be rather better off without the Ukraine... except the Crimea, which was pretty much Russian anyway.... except when it was Turkish or Ottoman or whatever.... hell for a while it was German...
Donald Trump does seem to acknowledge Russia's importance in the global chessboard; he says that he would mend ties with Russia and China, but conversely he says that the United States has been too diplomatic and that the world takes advantage of the United States when the opposite is true. Just read the book 'Super Imperialism: The Origin and Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance' by Michael Hudson.
I hear what you are saying, but there is a history of US presidential hopefuls being super anti this or anti that just to get votes and to get into power but when they get in the rhetoric changes... most seem to realise they wont get much progress in a lot of areas if they don't talk to Russia and China and even Iran etc.
The onus is on them to improve relations with the Russian Federation. Russia can do nothing to improve relations with the US because Russia is not threatening the United States and building military bases on its borders and conducting war games that are primed against the United States.
Like I said... it is up to the west and US in particular... Russia is not trying to expand its empire and be aggressive... it is just trying to do business and is being rather less fussy as to who it trades with... note talks with Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan and its very good relationship with South Korea...