Russian president Vladimir Putin’s increasingly explicit imperial ambitions to reconstitute a Russian empire from the ashes of the Soviet Union has raised considerable fears among former members.
The only former USSR state that has fully endorsed and supported the Russian campaign against Ukraine is Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko remains in power due to support from Russia. Belarus has become a conduit for Russian forces and their logistics in the Ukraine conflict.
Kyrgyzstan’s president Sadyr Japarov has informally lent some support to Russia, recognising the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic. But even there the government is seeking to avoid domestic unrest in the face of significant protests both for and against Russia which may grow due to economic fallout from the Ukraine conflict.
