The Place and the Role of the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States in Today’s International Relations on the Post-Soviet Area

Nowadays there are four unrecognized republics (Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia) on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Together they form the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States, or “parallel CIS†. The main task of the international community is to find acceptable solutions applicable to a particular case, because each of these conflicts is unique. The problem of unrecognized states is a major geopolitical issue for Russia. Russia’s task is to convince the international community that the unrecognized states on the post-Soviet area have the right to exist. Also Russia is one of the main forces that stimulates the resolving of these conflicts. The US and the EU can’t allow Russia be the only leader on the post-Soviet area because it means the growing influence of Russia, which is extremely disadvantageous from a geopolitical point of view. Therefore, the main strategic direction of the policy of the Western countries regarded to the countries of the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States is to support anti-Russian sentiment.