‘Post-Soviet Space No Longer Exists as a Single Whole,’ Gushin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Oct. 6 – Thirty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the portions of that former unity have moved in such different directions that it is no longer appropriate to speak of a single post-Soviet space as far as their developments are concerned, Aleksandr Gushin of the Russian International Affairs Council says.

            But, the instructor at the Russian State Humanities University says, “the role of common factors in the countries [remains] great,” including the state of their societies, a shared civilization, migration processes, and also remarkably similar regional conflicts (casp-geo.ru/30-let-postsovetskomu-prostranstvu-opredelenie-potentsial-i-konflikty/).

            “The conflicts on the post-Soviet space image a long history, with roots extending back into the Soviet and pre-Soviet past,” Gushin continues. “In most cases, the casue of the conflicts involve issues of the defining of borders, the mixture of ethnic groups, and the clash of interests of regional elites and various socio-cultural groups.”

            These conflicts have simultaneously allowed outside parties to enter and play a role and generated resistance to that trend by those within the space, in the first instance by the Rusian Federation which serves as “the guarantor of regional security and is an active participant in peace-keeping missions.”