President Vladimir Putin ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Kremlin ) Source- The National Interest Author- Nikholas K. Gvosdev If I were a strategist advising the Russian government on key national-security objectives for 2015 (and I am not), here would be five priorities for the year: First, the Kremlin needs to beat back the so-called “Maidan challenge” in Ukraine. Any consolidation of a westward-leaning administration, especially one that successfully undertakes the economic and security reforms that would make it easier to contemplate closer and more meaningful relations between Ukraine and NATO and the European Union, without also guaranteeing Russian equities, remains a critical danger to Moscow’s interests. This challenge, after the Orange Revolution in 2004, was met by the implosion of the coalition that spearheaded the dramatic political shift and by its subsequent inability once in government to deliver on any substantial reforms. While former U