AT THE CENTER

Russia’s Post-Soviet Neighbors

Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has transformed the security, economic, and geopolitical environments for Russia’s neighbors. Ukraine is at war. Three Russian neighbors—Belarus, China, and North Korea—are supporting the Russian invasion through various means and to various degrees. Three others—the Baltic States—are assisting Ukraine through the NATO alliance. The picture is more complex for

“The most important summits between leaders in Washington and Moscow—during the Nixon and Reagan administrations—took place precisely when the two governments recognized the dangers of inveterate mutual hostility and sought to limit them.”

-Paul J. Saunders

“The threat to the liberal order comes not from political shifts within democratic societies from liberal to conservative parties; that’s the normal cycle of democratic politics. It comes from resurgent autocrats in Russia, China, North Korea and Iran who do not tolerate such political shifts. Authoritarianism, not nationalism, poses the real threat to the liberal order.”

-Jacob Heilbrunn