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List of conflicts in territory of the former Soviet Union
Armed conflict taking place in former territories of the Soviet Union From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This is a list of the crises and wars in the countries of the former Soviet Union following its dissolution in 1991. Those conflicts have different origins but two primary driving factors can be identified : ethnic and cultural tensions (which underlie many of the conflicts in the Caucasus and Central Asia), and Russian irredentism, meaning Russia's policies to restore its historical sphere of influence, much of which was lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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Ethnic and cultural tensions
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Ethnic and cultural tensions in the post-Soviet space largely have their roots in the territorial delineations established during the early Soviet period (1920s–1930s), particularly through the policy of so-called national-territorial delimitation (in Russian: национально-территориальное размежевание, transliteration: natsionalno-territorialnoye razmezhevaniye). Although this policy officially aimed to create coherent national republics based on ethnic, linguistic, and economic criteria,[1][2] it often resulted in complex borders that left many minorities isolated within entities dominated by other groups. These decisions, compounded by later policies of centralization and russification contributed to the emergence of interethnic tensions following the breakup of the USSR.[3][4]
Throughout most of the Soviet era, such tensions remained latent, largely due to the authoritarian nature of the regime, which suppressed any form of identity-based or political expression. However, starting in 1985, the implementation of perestroika and glasnost reforms by Mikhail Gorbachev introduced a certain degree of freedom of expression, allowing national demands to surface in several republics and autonomous regions.[5] It was in this new climate that the regional Soviet of Nagorno-Karabakh (a majority-Armenian region) formally requested to be transferred to the Armenian SSR—an event that triggered the first post-Soviet conflict: the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
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Russian irredentism
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After the fall of the USSR, 25 million Russians found themselves outside the borders of the newly formed Russian Federation.[6] Despite this event which could have triggered the emergence of irredentist sentiment, the Russian political class showed almost no will of this type. This can be explained by the context of the time. Russia in the 1990s and early 2000s was grappling with significant internal problems, including economic crisis (linked to the transition to a market economy), constitutional crisis, internal war (Chechnya), dysfunctional public services, and more... These issues effectively relegated foreign policy to the sidelines.[7]
At the same time, several former Warsaw Pact countries joined NATO, viewing the alliance as a source of security and a path towards deeper integration with the West.[8] Russian leaders consistently condemned this expansion, perceiving it as a direct threat to Russia. In 1994, president Boris Yeltsin declared, "Our attitude towards NATO expansion plans [...] remains and will remain invariably negative. [...] This decision can lead to a deterioration of trust between Russia and Western countries."[9]
Despite these denunciations, the Russian government took little to no concrete actions to counter these waves of NATO expansion. On the contrary, cooperation was even established with the signing of a NATO-Russia Founding Act in 1997. This apparent contradiction between rhetoric and action can once again be attributed to the broader Russian context of the time: Russia had lost its superpower status and, as mentioned earlier, was in a concerning internal situation. To avoid completely losing its influence on the international stage, Russian leaders sought to fully integrate into the world order, which at the time was reflected in the desire to establish good relations with the United States, the hyperpower of the era, hence the wish for positive relations with NATO.[10][11]
Vladimir Putin's rise to power in 2000 marked a turning point in Russian domestic and foreign policy. Although he initially maintained the same approach as his predecessor regarding relations with the West, the stated goal was to restore the Russian state, weakened by the previous decade, and to strengthen its authority on the international stage. During his early terms, Putin primarily sought to economically revitalize the country, benefiting from the rise in hydrocarbons prices. Foreign policy remained relatively moderate, despite persistent tensions regarding NATO expansion and Western influence in the post-Soviet space. However, a major turning point occurred in 2007 with Vladimir Putin's speech at the Munich Security Conference. He openly denounced the unilateralism of the United States, criticized NATO expansion as a provocation, and reaffirmed Russia's intention to defend its strategic interests.[12][13] This speech is widely interpreted as the end of the cooperation phase and the beginning of a more aggressive foreign policy.
The first concrete manifestation of this new orientation occurred in 2008 with the Russo-Georgian War. For several years, Georgia, under the presidency of Mikheil Saakashvili, had expressed its desire to join Euro-Atlantic structures, even formally applying for NATO membership in April 2008.[14] This rapprochement was viewed negatively by Moscow, which saw the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance as a direct threat to its strategic interests in the Caucasus. On August 7, 2008, the situation deteriorated when Georgian authorities attempted to retake South Ossetia by force,[15][16] a separatist region supported by Russia since the 1990s. In response, Moscow took advantage of the situation and intervened militarily under the pretext of defending the Ossetian and Russian populations of the region.[17] After eight days of fighting, Georgia was forced to sign a ceasefire. Russia then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two secessionist regions, and established permanent military bases there.[18] This conflict marked a decisive step: for the first time since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia explicitly used force to pressure a neighboring state to deter it from integrating into Western structures, thus asserting its role as a regional power and initiating a more pronounced shift towards irredentist policies.
The 2008 Russo-Georgian War constituted an important precedent, demonstrating that Russia was now prepared to use force to defend its post-Soviet sphere of influence. However, this intervention remained limited in its immediate territorial objectives, with Moscow content to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia without proceeding to formal annexation. The true conflict demonstrating Russia's irredentist and expansionist will was the Ukrainian conflict, which began in 2014 and intensified in 2022.
In February 2014, the pro-European Maidan movement led to the ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych,[19] which Moscow perceived as a Western-backed coup.[20] In March, Russia annexed Crimea, a peninsula strategically important due to its majority Russian population and the presence of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. This action was widely condemned by the international community.[21] Simultaneously, pro-Russian separatist insurgencies erupted in eastern Ukraine, notably in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, indirectly supported by Moscow.[22] This dual movement—the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of Donbass—marked a break with the more moderate policy of post-Soviet Russia, indicating a clear irredentist will.[23] The conflict then stabilized into a low-intensity war, punctuated by the Minsk agreements (2014 and 2015), without a real settlement. While Ukraine strengthened its ties with the European Union and NATO, Russia pursued a hybrid influence policy and consolidated its hold on Crimea. In February 2022, citing the protection of Russian-speaking populations, Moscow launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.[24] This invasion marked a major turning point in post-Soviet history: for the first time, Russia undertook a full-scale conventional war against a sovereign former Soviet state, implicitly claiming irredentist objectives and openly challenging the international order established after the end of the Cold War.
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Frozen conflicts
Some post-Soviet conflicts ended in a stalemate or without a peace treaty, and are referred to as frozen conflicts. This means that a number of post-Soviet states have sovereignty over the entirety of their territory in name only. In reality, they do not exercise full control over areas still under the control of rebel factions. In many instances, these territories have institutions which are similar to those of fully-fledged independent states, albeit with little or no international recognition, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia; Transnistria in Moldova; and previously, the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic in Ukraine.[25]
Recognition of these states varies. Transnistria has not received recognition from any UN member state, including Russia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia have received recognition from Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru and Syria. The Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics had received recognition from Russia, Syria, and North Korea before their unrecognized annexation by Russia.
Central Asia
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North Caucasus
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South Caucasus
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Eastern Europe
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See also
Notes
- See 2023 Belgorod Oblast incursions § Ukrainian involvement for more details.
References
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