What was not clear, until Kiev received the IMF’s letter of November 20, 2013, was quite how unattractive the Western terms would be. The IMF offered Ukraine only $5 billion and noted that it would be expected to use $3.7 billion of it to repay the 2008 loan due in 2014. No one in Kiev had reason to expect generosity from the IMF. But the EU’s offer came as a real shock.
