Separatism and border clashes: the former USSR is again a powder keg

Empires don’t die in a day. The Russian offensive in Ukraine is but the worst of the conflicts fought over the vestiges ofussr, an empire still in agony more than thirty years after its collapse. It is unfortunately not the only one, nor will it likely be the last. But, whether Moscow wins or loses, it will upset the balance within the post-Soviet space.

An escalation of the decades-long controversies is already underway, also because several actors are taking advantage of the fact that Moscow is focused on what it calls “special military operation” and isolated.