IT HAS taken Russia a long time to find a way to interfere with the eastward expansion of the European Union and Nato. But by encouraging the dreams of eastern Ukraine to split away, it has found it.

President Putin’s subversion may backfire. For all the sudden clamour of the secession movement, a split would be hugely destructive for both parts of the country, which are intertwined far more than the rhetoric would have you know.

But provided Ukraine stays intact, whoever is President, the dispute has left it significantly closer to Europe — partly because of Poland’s vigorous involvement, one of the most striking notes of the past week.

It is not that disintegration of Ukraine is unimaginable. The broad division has been there for centuries. But a real separation would be nothing like as neat as a brief sketch of the country might imply.

The west of Ukraine, one of the most fertile farming areas of Europe, was historically part of Poland. It resisted Russian rule until the 1950s. In 1991, it led the drive for independence.

It is mainly — but not completely — Ukrainian-speaking, Catholic, and culturally close to Warsaw, Budapest and Vienna. The east (really, the south-east), is mainly Russian-speaking and Orthodox.

As the secessionists have reminded the world this weekend, the east makes up 60 per cent of the economy, and controls almost all of the heavy industry, particularly steel and coal, and metallurgical plants, while the port of Odessa is a huge transport hub.

But that does not mean a bifurcation would be easy. Many Ukrainians, so pleased to win independence from the Soviet Union just 13 years ago, would be dismayed at the idea of so fleeting an existence for a nation often called a future powerhouse of Europe.

Nor are the two wings of the economy easily separable. The prosperity of the country, such as it is, depends on access to both of Ukraine’s main trading partners: Russia and the EU.

In the first nine months of this year, the economy rose by 12 per cent. Yet yesterday, as the markets rushed to dump the local currency, the hyrvna, the departing President, Leonid Kuchma, warned that “another few days, and the financial system could fall down like a house of cards”.

It is not just economic links — or the fear of turmoil on its borders — that has prompted Poland to become so involved. The crowds supporting Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko have also been inspired by, well, “Solidarity”, as their banners put it.

Polish politicians have made their way to Kiev to try to mediate, including President Aleksander Kwasniewski, and the Nobel-winning former President, Lech Walesa.

They have added their voices to what is EU policy. Foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who has also travelled to Kiev, yesterday said: “The unity of Ukraine is fundamental.” Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer also underlined “the importance of (the) territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

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