Since the 1990s, Moscow has repeatedly looked beyond Russia’s borders and pledged to come to the assistance of its allegedly victimized fellow Russian citizens, or ethnic Great Russians, or Russian speakers (all three categories apply whenever Moscow finds it desirable to play this card). Transnistria, Georgia and Ukraine each exemplifies the process by which the Russian Federation is prepared to use force to destabilize neighboring states, allegedly on the grounds that they are mistreating Russians. Moreover, Moscow subsidizes and otherwise supports a large number of organizations and movements inside all of its neighbors, from Kazakhstan to the Baltic, to ensure …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation