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 Russia’s neighbors in the Caucasus and in Central Asia; Georgia is in turmoil, Azerbaijan and Armenia have gone to war with one another, and some Central Asian countries have facilitated Russia’s efforts to evade sanctions while carefully balancing their diplomatic relationships with Russia, China, and Western countries.

On February 13, the Center for the National Interest hosted two thoughtful experts to discuss Russia’s evolving relationships with its neighbors in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

—Claire Kaiser is Head of Strategy and Senior Managing Director, Eurasia, at McLarty Associates. Dr. Kaiser is simultaneously an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies. And she is the author of Georgian and Soviet: Entitled Nationhood and the Specter of Stalin in the Caucasus. She has lived and worked in Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia and has served as an OSCE election observer in missions to Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.

—Andrew Kuchins is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the National Interest, where he directs its Central Asia Connectivity Project. Dr. Kuchins was previously President of the American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan. Earlier in his career, he was Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. At Carnegie, he also directed the former Moscow Center. He is currently an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Paul Saunders, the president of the Center for the National Interest, moderated the discussion.