On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine the likes of which Europe had not seen in the 21st century. Today, the human casualties continue to mount as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brazen assault on democracy continues. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the post-Soviet world is left to pick up the foundations of a quickly-crumbling world order, amid what appears to be a second stage of Soviet collapse. Russian decolonization not only encompasses the defense of Ukrainian sovereignty and independence, but also a renewed focus on the region most immediately vulnerable to Russian aggression and hegemony. From Azerbaijan’s invasion of Armenia in 2022 to border clashes between Collective Security Treaty Organization member states Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, countries once under firmly in Russia’s orbit are quickly slipping from the sphere of influence Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power so heavily relies on.

As an international relations organization firmly devoted to upholding values of human rights and democracy globally, the USC Dornsife Global Policy Institute lends itself as a platform for student analysis of the war in Ukraine, contextualized more broadly in the region of post-Soviet Eurasia, and its international implications.

Follow the editorial analysis by GPI fellows in this latest series organized by GPI editorial lead Mané Berikyan.

The views expressed in Eye on Ukraine: The Region In Context do not necessarily align with the views of the Global Policy Institute editorial staff.

It’s a victory when the weapons fall silent and people speak up.

Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

Editorials

Read our fellows’ analysis of the war in Ukraine, as well as the broader geopolitical challenges across the post-Soviet world and beyond.

Eye on Ukraine: The Region in Context
Editor: Mane Berikyan, Deputy Director

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