러시아ㆍ유라시아

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.