On December 2, 2014 the Consul General of Ukraine in San Francisco and employees of the Consular institution took part in the Panel discussion "Russia, the West and the crisis in Ukraine", organized by the University of California at Berkeley. Speakers of this scientific event were Associate Professor of political science Edward Walker, Associate Professor of Economics Gerard Roland, Professor Beverly Crawford and Professor of Political Science Andrei Tsygankov. Experienced American diplomat and academician E.Walker emphasized in his speech the absence of clear rules game of the world powers, division of interests between Russia and the West and the lack of a stable military balance. He also said that Russia, with its powerful nuclear arsenal, conducting an aggressive foreign policy, poses a threat to peace and security in the Eastern European region. In this context, Assistant Professor drew attention to the fact that the US, the EU and other Western countries never recognized the annexation of the Crimea by Russia since forced change of state borders in the XXI century was unacceptable. In addition, Edward Walker said that so far U.S. President B.Obama conducted quite a balanced foreign policy towards Russia. However, the Republican Party, which has a majority in the US Senate, will increase the pressure on the White House in order to take much tougher action against the Kremlin. In summary statement, Associate Professor said that in view of the fact that Russia does not comply with Minsk arrangements on the resumption of the peace negotiations on Ukraine, the US Government continued to tighten economic sanctions against Russia, to increase financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and the NATO to increase its military presence in the Eastern Europe. Gerard Roland during his presentation thoroughly analyzed the main consequences of imposed economic sanctions against Russia. He also noted that the impact of the fall of world oil prices had significantly more impact on Russia's economy than Western sanctions. In his view, tougher sanctions will not force V.V.Putina to soften policy towards Ukraine, and vice versa - may lead to a intensification of confrontation. In this context, Associate Professor said that so far Russia pays much more attention to Ukraine than the US and the EU do. G.Roland emphasized the need for the Government of Ukraine to implement social and economic reforms (anti-corruption, rule of law and ensuring justice, improving the investment climate, etc.), which the Ukrainian people fought for. In case of absence of progress in this direction the Russian President may use the dissatisfaction of the Ukrainian people and carry out a similar to Georgia scenario to change the Government of Ukraine. The statements of A.Tsygankov, which had vivid pro-Russian propaganda nature, were negatively perceived by members of the panel discussion. In particular, G.Roland said that as a result of this year's presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine the democratic pro-European political forces, which had no relation to nationalist groups, came to power. In addition, the Ukrainian nation has the sovereign right to determine their foreign policy aspirations. At the end of this round table, representatives of the Consulate General of Ukraine in San Francisco, expressed their gratitude to the Californian academician represented by E.Walker and G.Roland for objective reports of the events in Ukraine and the US citizens support of the Ukrainian people’s and the power leaders’ efforts to advance on the democratic and European way.