Russia Ukraine war, page-209661

Did the 'protestors know the real reason why Yanukovich pulled out of the negotiations with EU and IMF? The loss to Ukraine if they joined EU and broke the economic ties with Russia meant a self-destruction of Ukraine.

"Obviously, those are two very different accounts of Yanukovych, in Economist and in Spiegel — not the same person. However, both of them agree that his reason for rejecting the EU’s offer is that it amounted to a $160 billion loss to Ukraine, which was money that Ukraine didn’t have. So, regardless of which of those two reports about Yanukovych was true, and which was false, they both reported that Ukraine could not afford the $160 billion price which joining the EU would entail. This fact, alone, means that joining the EU would be a disastrously losing proposition for Ukraine."