On December 20, the Valdai Club hosted a presentation of a new report, titled “Space Without Borders: Russia and Its Neighbours”. The report was prepared especially for the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the USSR.
December 25, 2021, marks 30 years since the Soviet Union ceased to exit. The result of this event was the emergence of modern Russia and fourteen independent states along its perimeter. The creation of the Russian Federation did not affect the country’s place in the global balance of power. The collapse of the USSR in 1991 presented the Russian state with the need to overcome historical inertia. “The fact that Russia has managed to resist the temptation to restore the imperial order for 30 years is an achievement in breaking away from the old path and an indicator of the state’s maturation,” the report says.
Is there a clear general order today in the vastness of the former USSR? How do the neighbouring countries of Russia see their place? What is required for a successful long-term policy of Russia towards its neighbours? The participants of the presentation answered these and other questions.