Under the states of the post-Soviet space, it is customary to understand the republics that were formerly part of the USSR, but after its collapse in 1991 gained independence. They are also often referred to as neighboring countries. Thus, the sovereignty they received and the difference from those states that were never part of the Soviet Union are emphasized. In addition, the expression is used: the countries of the CIS (Commonwe alth of Independent States) and the B altic states. In this case, the emphasis is on the separation of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia from their former "brothers" in the Union.
The Fifteen Member States of the Commonwe alth
CIS is an international regional organization created on the basis of a document signed in 1991 and known as the "Belovezhskaya agreement", concluded between representatives of the republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the governments of the B altic (B altic) countries announced their refusal to join this newly formed structure. In addition, Georgia, which was a memberCommonwe alth from the day of its foundation, announced its withdrawal from it after the armed conflict of 2009.
In the post-Soviet space, which was the territory of the USSR until 1991, in the period following its collapse, 15 independent states were formed, such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Estonia. All of them are currently the subject of close study by specialists in the field of politics, economics, history, culture and geography.
Linguistic and religious affiliation of the peoples of the CIS
According to statistics obtained in 2015, the total population of the countries of the post-Soviet space is 293.5 million people, and most of them are bilingual, that is, people who equally speak two languages, one of which, as a rule,, Russian, and the second is their native, corresponding to their nationality. Nevertheless, the population of most of these states prefers to communicate in their native languages. The only exceptions are Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus, where Russian is the state language on a par with the national one. In addition, due to a number of historical reasons, Russian is spoken by a significant part of the population of Moldova and Ukraine.
According to statistics, most of the population of the CIS are peoples who speak languages belonging to the Slavic group, that is, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Next comerepresentatives of the Turkic language group, among which the most common are Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Tatar, Uzbek and a number of other languages. As for confessional affiliation, the largest percentage of the believing population of the CIS countries professes Christianity, followed by Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and some other religions.
Groups of Commonwe alth States
The entire territory of the post-Soviet space is usually divided into five groups, belonging to which is determined by the geographical location of a particular republic of the former USSR, its cultural characteristics, as well as the history of relations with Russia. Such a division is very conditional and is not fixed by legal acts.
In the post-Soviet space, Russia, which occupies the largest territory, stands out as an independent group that includes: Center, South, Far East, Siberia, etc. In addition, the B altic states are considered a separate group: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Representatives of Eastern Europe, which were also part of the USSR, are: Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. Next come the republics of Transcaucasia: Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. And the very numerous countries of Central Asia complete this list: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
A bit of history
Among all the countries of the near abroad, Russia's closest historical ties have developed with the Slavic peoples now living in the territories of countries belonging to the Eastern European group. This is due to the fact that once they were all included inthe composition of Kievan Rus, while the Central Asian republics became part of the Russian Empire only in the period of the XVIII-XIX centuries.
As for the B altic countries, which were also annexed to Russia in the 18th century, their peoples (with the exception of Lithuania) have been under the jurisdiction of Germany (Knights of the Teutonic Order), Denmark, Sweden and Poland since the Middle Ages. These states received formal independence only after the end of the First World War. Today, their inclusion in the USSR in 1940 is given extremely contradictory assessments - from the legal act, confirmed by the Y alta (February 1945) and Potsdam (August 1945) conferences, to the perfidious occupation.
Even before the final collapse of the USSR, among the governments of the republics that were part of it, there was a discussion of issues related to the organization of the post-Soviet space. In this regard, a proposal was put forward to create a confederal union, all members of which, while maintaining their sovereignty, would unite to solve common problems and tasks. However, despite the fact that representatives of a number of republics met this initiative with approval, a number of objective factors prevented its implementation.
Bloodshed in Transnistria and the Caucasus
Changes in the foreign policy situation and the internal way of life of the republics that followed immediately after the collapse of the USSR provoked a number of conflicts in the post-Soviet space. One of the first was the armed confrontation that broke out on the territory of Transnistria betweenMoldovan troops, which also included the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and formations staffed from supporters of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. The hostilities that began on March 2 and continued until August 1, 1992 claimed at least a thousand lives.
In the same period, Georgia became a participant in two armed conflicts. In August 1992, the political confrontation between its leadership and the government of Abkhazia escalated into bloody clashes that lasted from March 2 to August 1. In addition, the former enmity between Georgia and South Ossetia, which also had extremely harmful consequences, has become extremely aggravated.
The tragedy of Nagorno-Karabakh
On the territory of the post-Soviet space, clashes between Armenians and Azerbaijanis that took place in the Nagorno-Karabakh region also took on an extraordinary scale. The conflict between representatives of these two Transcaucasian republics is rooted in the distant past, but it escalated at the beginning of perestroika, when the power of the Moscow center, which had weakened by that time, provoked the growth of nationalist movements in them.
In the period 1991-1994, this confrontation between them took on the character of full-scale military operations, which resulted in innumerable casu alties on both sides and caused a sharp drop in the economic standard of living of the population. Its effects are still felt today.
Creation of the Republic of Gagauzia
The history of conflicts in the post-Soviet space also included the speech of the Gagauzpopulation of Moldova against the Chisinau government, which almost ended in a civil war. Fortunately, large-scale bloodshed was then avoided, and in the spring of 1990 the confrontation that arose ended with the creation of the Republic of Gagauzia, which 4 years later peacefully integrated into Moldova on the rights of autonomy.
The fratricidal war in Tajikistan
However, as already mentioned, the resolution of conflicts in the post-Soviet space was not always peaceful. An example of this is the civil war that engulfed Tajikistan and lasted from May 1992 to June 1997. It was provoked by the extremely low standard of living of the population, its political and social lack of rights, as well as the clan outlook of the majority of representatives of the leadership of the republic and its law enforcement agencies.
The ultra-Orthodox circles of local Islamists also played an important role in escalating the situation. Only in September 1997 was the Commission of National Reconciliation established, which operated for three years and put an end to the fratricidal war. However, its consequences were felt in the lives of ordinary people for a long time, dooming them to many hardships.
Military operations in Chechnya and Ukraine
The two Chechen wars, the first of which broke out in mid-December 1994 and blazed until the end of August 1996, were also sadly memorable conflicts in the post-Soviet space. The second, which began in August 1999, continued with varying intensity for almost nine years.and a half years and ended only by mid-April 2009. Both of them claimed thousands of lives both on one side and on the other, and did not bring a favorable resolution of most of the contradictions underlying the armed clashes.
The same can be said about the hostilities in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014. Their reason was the formation of two self-proclaimed republics - Lugansk (LPR) and Donetsk (DPR). Despite the fact that clashes between units of the armed forces of Ukraine and the militias have already claimed tens of thousands of lives, the war, which continues to this day, has not led to a solution to the conflict.
Creation of common interstate structures
All these tragic events took place despite the fact that a number of international organizations were created in the post-Soviet space to prevent them and normalize life. The first of these was the Commonwe alth of Independent States itself, which was discussed above. In addition, some of the republics became part of an organization sealed by a collective security treaty (CSTO). As conceived by its creators, it was supposed to ensure the safety of all its members. In addition to confronting various ethnic conflicts, it was entrusted with the duty to fight international terrorism and the spread of narcotic and psychotropic drugs. A number of organizations were also created aimed at the economic development of the countries of the former CIS.
Diplomatic agreements between CIS countries
Ninetiesbecame the main period of the formation of the internal life and foreign policy of the states that found themselves in the post-Soviet space. The agreements concluded during this period between their governments determined the paths for further cooperation for many years. The first of these, as mentioned above, was the document called the "Belovezhskaya agreement". It was signed by representatives of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It was subsequently ratified by all the other members of the resulting community.
No less important legal acts were the agreements concluded between Russia and Belarus, as well as its other closest neighbor - Ukraine. In April 1996, an important agreement was signed with Minsk on the creation of an alliance with the aim of interaction in various fields of industry, science and culture. Similar negotiations were also held with the government of Ukraine, but the main documents, called the "Kharkov agreements", were signed by representatives of the governments of both states only in 2010.
Within this article, it is difficult to cover the entire scope of work carried out by diplomats and governments of the CIS and B altic countries over the period since the collapse of the Soviet Union and aimed at the successful interaction of members of the newly formed commonwe alth. Many problems have been overcome, but many more are waiting to be solved. The success of this important undertaking will depend on the good will of all participants in the process.
