Tensions between Russia and Its Former Colonies will Continue to Deteriorate as Long as Moscow Behaves as if the USSR Still Existed, Azerbaijani Political Scientist Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 2 – As the current cooling of relations between Russia and Azerbaijan shows, relations between Moscow and the capitals of former Soviet republics will continue to deteriorate as long as officials in the Russian capital behave as if the USSR still existed, Ilgar Velizade says.

            It isn’t so much the specific actions Moscow takes such as the shooting down of an Azerbaijani plane or the arrest of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg more recently that is the problem but rather how Russian officials feel entitled to behave once the crisis emerges, the Baku political scientist says (novgaz.com/index.php/2-news/3969-«москва-до-сих-пор-ощущает-себя-как-в-советском-союзе»).

            Then, instead of responding as it would if other countries further away were involved, Moscow acts as if the USSR still exists and that any of the non-Russians involved need to respond accordingly, a position that ensures ever more anger among non-Russians even if the particular crisis passes.

            When a former imperial center behaves as if it is entitled to deference no matter what it does as Moscow has in recent times, then it will find that not some but all of its former colonies will become more hostile because no one likes to be treated as a second class place especially more than 30 years of achieving independence.