Rhetoric and Reality: Post-Soviet Policy in the Near Abroad

For both the Russian political elite and the country's general population, the perceived loss of their great empire remains painful. Most Russians still miss the previous great-power status of their bigger country and view the disintegration of the Soviet Union as one of the undesirable effects of the reform process. While Russian authorities in 1994 and 1995 did step up efforts to exert more control over the policies of the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, today most of the gloomy predictions about the direction and aggressive content of Russia's policy toward the CIS countries have failed to materialize. The notion of reunification of the Soviet Union failed to assert itself. But the euphoria in the West over the possibility of a quick fix of the post-communist Russian political and economic systems has faded away.