Russia and the CIS: Relations of Foreign or Domestic Policy?

Abstract

What role does the Community of Independent States (CIS) currently have in the area that was once called the Soviet Union, in particular in Russia’s so-called “near abroad”? The CIS was, to start with, little more than a liquidating committee of Soviet inheritance.This hybrid entity may be defined as a specific type of union among officially sovereign States that have few decision making mechanisms. For Russia its policy towards the “near abroad” is a priority given this country’s geostrategic interests in this area. The paperanalyzes some of the economic imperatives and the military’s participation in peacekeeping missions that have favored, up to a point, a “russification” of the CIS.