Russian-Eurasian Republics

1. Russian-Eurasian Republics

2. Russian-Eurasian Republics • Russia • Belarus • Ukraine • Georgia • Armenia • Azerbaijan • Kazakhstan • Turkmenistan • Uzbekistan • Tajikistan • Kyrgyzstan

3. Russia • Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. • In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. • Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. • During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. • Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. • Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. • The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. • The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. • The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics. • Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state in which the leadership seeks to legitimize its rule through managed national elections, populist appeals by President PUTIN, and continued economic growth. • Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.

4. Belarus • After seven decades as a constituent republic of the USSR, Belarus attained its independence in 1991. • It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any of the other former Soviet republics. • Belarus and Russia signed a treaty on a two-state union on 8 December 1999 envisioning greater political and economic integration. • Although Belarus agreed to a framework to carry out the accord, serious implementation has yet to take place. • Since his election in July 1994 as the country's first president, Aleksandr LUKASHENKO has steadily consolidated his power through authoritarian means. • Government restrictions on freedom of speech and the press, peaceful assembly, and religion remain in place.

5. Ukraine • Independence for Ukraine was achieved in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, democracy and prosperity remained elusive as the legacy of state control and endemic corruption stalled efforts at economic reform, privatization, and civil liberties. • A peaceful mass protest "Orange Revolution" in the closing months of 2004 forced the authorities to overturn a rigged presidential election and to allow a new internationally monitored vote that swept into power a reformist slate under Viktor YUSHCHENKO. • Subsequent internal squabbles in the YUSHCHENKO camp allowed his rival Viktor YANUKOVYCH to stage a comeback in parliamentary elections and become prime minister in August of 2006. • An early legislative election, brought on by a political crisis in the spring of 2007, saw Yuliya TYMOSHENKO, as head of an "Orange" coalition, installed as a new prime minister in December 2007. • Viktor YANUKOVUYCH was elected president in a February 2010 run-off election that observers assessed as meeting most international standards. • The following month, Ukraine's parliament, the Rada, approved a vote of no-confidence prompting Yuliya TYMOSHENKO to resign from her post as prime minister. • Ukraine held Rada elections, widely condemned as fraudulent by Western observers, in October 2012 returning a YANUKOVUYCH-aligned Party of Regions-led government back to power.

6. Georgia • Independence when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. • Mounting public discontent over rampant corruption and ineffective government services, followed by an attempt by the incumbent Georgian government to manipulate national legislative elections in November 2003 touched off widespread protests that led to the resignation of Eduard SHEVARDNADZE, president since 1995. • In the aftermath of that popular movement, which became known as the "Rose Revolution," new elections in early 2004 swept Mikheil SAAKASHVILI into power along with his United National Movement (UNM) party. • Progress on market reforms and democratization has been made in the years since independence, but this progress has been complicated by Russian assistance and support to the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. • Periodic flare-ups in tension and violence culminated in a five-day conflict in August 2008 between Russia and Georgia, including the invasion of large portions of undisputed Georgian territory. • Russian troops pledged to pull back from most occupied Georgian territory, but in late August 2008 Russia unilaterally recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Russian military forces remain in those regions. • A new constitution shifting many powers from the president to the prime minister and parliament, including the power to name the prime minister and government ministers, does not go into effect until after a new president is elected in the fall of 2013.

7. Armenia • Attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. • Has been embroiled in a fight with Azerbaijan since 1994.

8. Kazakhstan • Kazakhstan's economy is larger than those of all the other Central Asian states largely due to the country's vast natural resources. • Current issues include: developing a cohesive national identity; managing Islamic revivalism; expanding the development of the country's vast energy resources and exporting them to world markets; diversifying the economy outside the oil, gas, and mining sectors; enhancing Kazakhstan's economic competitiveness; developing a multiparty parliament and advancing political and social reform; and strengthening relations with neighboring states and other foreign powers.

9. Turkmenistan • Achieved independence upon the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. • Extensive hydrocarbon/natural gas reserves, which have yet to be fully exploited, have begun to transform the country. • Turkmenistan is moving to expand its extraction and delivery projects. • The Turkmen Government is actively working to diversify its gas export routes beyond the still important Russian pipeline network. • In 2010, new gas export pipelines that carry Turkmen gas to China and to northern Iran began operating, effectively ending the Russian monopoly on Turkmen gas exports. • President for Life Saparmurat NYYAZOW died in December 2006, and Turkmenistan held its first multi-candidate presidential election in February 2007.

10. Uzbekistan • Independent since 1991, the country seeks to gradually lessen its dependence on the cotton monoculture by diversifying agricultural production while developing its mineral and petroleum reserves and increasing its manufacturing base. • Current concerns include terrorism by Islamic militants, economic stagnation, and the curtailment of human rights and democratization.

11. Tajikistan • Tajikistan became independent in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union, and experienced a civil war between regional factions from 1992-97. • Tajikistan experienced several security incidents in 2010-12, including a mass prison-break from a Dushanbe detention facility, the country's first suicide car bombing in Khujand, and armed conflict between government forces and local strongmen in the Rasht Valley and Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast. • The country remains the poorest in the former Soviet sphere. • Attention by the international community since the beginning of the NATO intervention in Afghanistan has brought increased economic development and security assistance, which could create jobs and strengthen stability in the long term. • Tajikistan was admitted to the WTO in December 2012 and is expected to become a member state in mid-2013; Tajikistan joined NATO's Partnership for Peace in 2002.

12. Kyrgyzstan • achieved independence in 1991 when the USSR dissolved. • Nationwide demonstrations in the spring of 2005 resulted in the ouster of President Askar AKAEV, who had run the country since 1990. • Subsequent presidential elections in July 2005 were won overwhelmingly by former prime minister Kurmanbek BAKIEV. • Over the next few years, the new president manipulated the parliament to accrue new powers for himself. • In July 2009, after months of harassment against his opponents and media critics, BAKIEV won re-election in a presidential campaign that the international community deemed flawed. • In April 2010, nationwide protests led to the resignation and expulsion of BAKIEV. • His successor, Roza OTUNBAEVA, served as transitional president until Almazbek ATAMBAEV was inaugurated in December 2011. • Continuing concerns include: the trajectory of democratization, endemic corruption, poor interethnic relations, and terrorism.