Editing Foreign relations of Russia (section)

=== Former Soviet Republics and Warsaw Pact ===
The non-Russian countries that were once part of the USSR have been termed the '[[near abroad]]' by Russians. More recently, Russian leaders have been referring to all 15 countries collectively as "Post-Soviet Space," while asserting Russian foreign policy interest throughout the region.<ref>See [[Vladimir Socor]], "[http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=27502&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=176&no_cache=1 Kremlin Refining Policy in 'Post-Soviet Space']," ''Eurasia Daily Monitor'' (7 February 2005).</ref> After the USSR was dissolved by the presidents of Russia, [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]], Russia tried to regain some sort of influence over the post-Soviet space by creating, on 8 December 1991, a [[regional organization]] – the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]]. The following years, Russia initiated a set of agreements with the [[Post-Soviet states]] which were designed to institutionalize the relations inside the CIS. However, most of these agreements were not fulfilled and the CIS republics began to drift away from Russia, which at that time was attempting to stabilize its broken economy and ties with the West.<ref>[http://www.ef.huji.ac.il/publications/Yakovlev%20Golani.pdf Two Decades of the Russian Federation's Foreign Policy in the Commonwealth of Independent States: The Cases of Belarus and Ukraine] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120175204/http://www.ef.huji.ac.il/publications/Yakovlev%20Golani.pdf |date=20 November 2011}}, p. 17</ref>
[[File:Vladimir Putin in Ukraine April 2011-6.jpeg|thumb|210px|Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian Prime Minister [[Mykola Azarov]], 12 April 2011]]

One of the major issues which had an influence on the foreign relations of Russia in FSU was the remaining large Russian minority populations in many countries of the near abroad. This issue has been dealt with in various ways by each individual country. They have posed a particular problem in countries where they live close to the Russian border, such as in [[Ukraine]] and [[Kazakhstan]], with some of these Russians calling for these areas to be absorbed into Russia. By and large, however, Russians in the near-abroad do not favor active intervention of Russia into the domestic affairs of neighboring countries, even in defense of the interests of ethnic Russians.<ref>Lowell W. Barrington, Erik S. Herron, and Brian D. Silver, "The Motherland Is Calling: Views of Homeland among Russians in the Near Abroad," ''World Politics'' 55, No. 2 (2003) : 290–313.</ref> Moreover, the three [[Baltic states]] ([[Estonia]], [[Latvia]], and [[Lithuania]]) have clearly signaled their desire to be outside any claimed Russian sphere of influence, as is reflected by their joining both the [[NATO]] alliance and the [[European Union]] in 2004.

Close cultural, ethnic and historical links exist between Russia, [[Belarus]] and Ukraine. The traditional Russian perspective is that they are one ethnic group, with Russians called 'Great Russians', [[Belarusians]] 'White Russians' and [[Ukrainians]] '[[Little Russia]]ns'. This manifested itself in lower levels of [[nationalism]] in these areas, particularly Belarus and Ukraine, during the disintegration of the Soviet Union. However, few Ukrainians accept a "younger brother" status relative to Russia{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}},<ref>{{Cite book|title=Russia Today: Atlas for Business and Political Decision Makers - Strategic Information and Developments|publisher=IBP, Inc.|year=2015|isbn=9781329856981|location=United States|pages=121}}</ref> and Russia's efforts to insert itself into Ukrainian domestic politics, such as Putin's endorsement of a candidate for the Ukrainian presidency in the last election, are contentious.

Russia maintains its military bases in [[Armenia]], [[Belarus]], [[Kyrgyzstan]], the [[Transnistria]] region of [[Moldova]], the occupied South Ossetia region of [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and [[Tajikistan]].

Russia's relationships with [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] are at their lowest point in modern history due to the [[2006 Georgian-Russian espionage controversy|Georgian-Russian espionage controversy]] and due to the [[Russo-Georgian War|2008 Russo-Georgian war]], Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia and has left the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]].

Russia's relations with Ukraine, since 2013, are also at their lowest point in history as a result of the pro-Western [[Euromaidan|Euromaidan revolution]] in Ukraine, the [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexation of Crimea]] and the pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine withdrew from the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2018, with Moldova following in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Russia maintains diplomatic relations with most countries that were once part of the former [[Warsaw Pact]], and furthermore, [[Albania]]. Russia also continues to maintain friendly relations with [[Cuba]], [[Mongolia]] and [[Vietnam]] as well as third world and non-aligned countries of [[Afghanistan]], [[Angola]], [[Benin]], [[Cambodia]], [[Republic of the Congo|Congo]], [[Egypt]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Grenada]], [[Guinea-Bissau]], [[India]], [[Iraq]], [[Laos]], [[Mozambique]], [[Serbia]], [[Syria]] and the [[South Yemen|former Southern part]] of [[Yemen]].