Near Abroad

Book cover of Near Abroad: Putin, the West, and the Contest Over Ukraine and the Caucasus

Book description

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, it invaded Georgia. Both states are part of Russia's "near abroad"-newly independent states that were once part of the Soviet Union and are now Russia's neighbors. While the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 faded from the headlines in the wake of the global recession, the geopolitical contest…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Near Abroad as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Andrei P. Tsygankov

Author

Russia remains intensely focused on the post-Soviet Eurasia as essential to the country’s security and relations with the outside world. The conflict in Ukraine is the culmination of Russia’s perception of geopolitical significance of the “near abroad.” The book by a political geographer analyzes Ukraine and the Caucasus as two principally important subjects of Moscow’s attention. In the author's view, Russian foreign relations reflect competing geopolitical visions, weak state institutions, and perceptions of unresolved legacies of the Soviet dissolution.

From Andrei's list on Russia’s foreign policy after the Cold War.