By 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 often called countries of the near abroad. In this way, the sovereignty they gained and their distinction from those states that never were part of the Soviet Union are emphasized. In addition, the expression is used: countries of the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States ) and the Baltic states. In this case, the emphasis is on the separation of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia from their former “brothers” in the Union.
Fifteen Member States of the Commonwealth
The CIS is an international regional organization created on the basis of a document signed in 1991 and known as the “Bialowieza Agreement” concluded between representatives of the republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. Then the governments of the Baltic countries (Baltic States) declared their refusal to join this newly formed structure. In addition, Georgia, which has been a member of the Commonwealth since its founding, announced its withdrawal from it after the 2009 armed conflict.
In the post-Soviet space, which until 1991 was the territory of the USSR, 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 of 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 post-Soviet countries is 293.5 million people, most of which are bilinguals, that is, people who equally speak two languages, one of which, as a rule, is Russian, and the second their native 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 along with the national one. In addition, for a number of historical reasons, a significant part of the population of Moldova and Ukraine speak Russian.
According to statistics, the majority of the CIS population are people who speak languages that belong to the Slavic group, that is, Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Next are the representatives of the Turkic language group, among which the most widespread are Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Tatar, Uzbek and a number of other languages. As for confessional affiliation, the largest percentage of the faithful population of the CIS countries profess Christianity, then comes Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and some other religions.
Groups of states included in the Commonwealth
It is customary to divide the entire territory of the post-Soviet space into five groups, their belonging to which is determined by the geographical position of a republic of the former USSR, its cultural characteristics, and also the history of relations with Russia. Such division is rather 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, which includes: the Center, the South, the Far East, Siberia, etc. In addition, the Baltic states are considered as a separate group: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Representatives of Eastern Europe, also part of the USSR, are: Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine. Next come the republics of Transcaucasia: Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. And this list is completed by the very numerous countries of Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
A bit of history
Among all the countries of the near abroad, the closest historical ties of Russia have developed with the Slavic peoples living now in the territories of countries belonging to the East European group. This is due to the fact that once all of them were part of Kievan Rus, while the republics of Central Asia became part of the Russian Empire only in the period of the 18th-19th centuries.
As for the Baltic countries, annexed to Russia also in the XVIII century, then their peoples (with the exception of Lithuania) since the Middle Ages were under the jurisdiction of Germany (knights of the Teutonic Order), Denmark, Sweden and Poland. 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 a legal act confirmed by the Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (August 1945) conferences to the treacherous occupation.
Even before the final collapse of the USSR, among the governments of the republics included in 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 confederate union, all members of which, while maintaining their sovereignty, would unite to solve common problems and tasks. However, despite the fact that representatives of several republics welcomed this initiative, 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, which followed immediately after the collapse of the USSR, provoked a series of conflicts in the post-Soviet space. One of the first was the armed confrontation that erupted in the territory of Transnistria between the Moldovan troops, which also included the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and formations manned from supporters of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldavian Republic. The military operations that began on March 2 and continued until August 1, 1992 claimed at least a thousand lives.
At the same time, Georgia became a participant in two armed conflicts. In August 1992, the political confrontation between her leadership and the government of Abkhazia escalated into bloody clashes, which lasted from March 2 to August 1. In addition, Georgia’s former enmity with South Ossetia, which also had extremely detrimental consequences, was extremely aggravated.
The tragedy of Nagorno-Karabakh
In 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 scope . The conflict between the representatives of these two Transcaucasian republics is rooted in the distant past, but it got aggravated 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 acquired the character of full-scale hostilities, which entailed innumerable casualties on both sides and caused a sharp drop in the economic standard of living of the population. Its effects are felt today.
Creation of the Republic of Gagauzia
The history of conflicts in the post-Soviet space also included a speech by the Gagauz population 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 as an autonomy.
Fratricidal War in Tajikistan
However, as already mentioned, the resolution of conflicts in the post-Soviet space did not always happen in a peaceful way. An example of this is the civil war that swept 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 disempowerment, as well as the clan worldview of most representatives of the republic’s leadership and its power structures.
The ultra-orthodox circles of local Islamists also played an important role in escalating the situation. Only in September 1997 was the National Reconciliation Commission created, operating for three years and putting an end to the fratricidal war. However, its consequences were felt for a long time in the lives of ordinary people, condemning them to many hardships.
Military operations in Chechnya and Ukraine
Two Chechen wars also became sadly memorable conflicts in the post-Soviet space, the first of which broke out in mid-December 1994 and blazed until the end of August 1996. The second, starting in August 1999, with different intensities, lasted for almost nine and a half years and ended only in mid-April 2009. Both of them claimed thousands of lives from both the opposing sides and did not bring a favorable solution to most of the contradictions that underlie 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 militias took 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 occurred 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 Commonwealth of Independent States itself, which was discussed above. In addition, part of the republics became part of the organization sealed by the Collective Security Treaty (CSTO). As conceived by its creators, she was supposed to ensure the safety of all its members. In addition to confronting various interethnic conflicts, she was entrusted with the duty to combat international terrorism and the spread of narcotic and psychotropic drugs. A number of organizations have also been created aimed at the economic development of the countries of the former CIS.
Diplomatic agreements between the countries - members of the CIS
The nineties became the main period in the formation of domestic life and the foreign policy of states that found themselves in the post-Soviet space. The agreements concluded during this period between their governments for many years determined the ways for further cooperation. The first of them, as mentioned above, was a document called the “Bialowieza Agreement”. It was signed by representatives of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. He was subsequently ratified by all other members of the formed community.
Equally 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 cooperation in various fields of industry, science and culture. Similar negotiations were also conducted with the Ukrainian government, but the main documents, called the Kharkov Agreements, were signed by representatives of the governments of both states only in 2010.
In the framework of this article, it is difficult to cover the entire amount of work carried out by diplomats and governments of the CIS and Baltic countries during the period that has elapsed since the collapse of the Soviet Union and aimed at the successful interaction of members of the newly formed community. Many problems have been overcome, but even more of them are waiting to be resolved. The success of this important matter will depend on the goodwill of all participants in the process.