Post-Soviet states and Related Topics

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

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The process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union (USSR) which resulted in the end of the country's and its federal government's existence as a sovereign state, thereby resulting in its constituent republics gaining full sovereignty.

The first exhibition on the crimes of Stalinism, called "Week of Conscience", was held in Moscow on November 19, 1988

Environmental concerns over the Metsamor nuclear power plant drove initial demonstrations in Yerevan.

Figure of Liberty on the Freedom Monument in Riga, focus of the 1986 Latvian demonstrations

Anti-Soviet rally in Vingis Park of about 250,000 people. Sąjūdis was a movement which led to the restoration of an Independent State of Lithuania.

Andrei Sakharov, formerly exiled to Gorky, was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies in March 1989.

Baltic Way 1989 demonstration in Šiauliai, Lithuania showing coffins decorated with national flags of the three Baltic republics placed symbolically beneath Soviet and Nazi flags

Photos of victims (mostly young women) of an April 1989 massacre in Tbilisi, Georgia

Nursultan Nazarbayev became leader of the Kazakh SSR in 1989 and later led Kazakhstan to independence.

Azerbaijani stamp with photos of Black January

Viacheslav Chornovil, a prominent Ukrainian dissident and a lead figure of Rukh

Leonid Kravchuk became Ukraine's leader in 1990.

Saparmurat Niyazov, last head of the Turkmen SSR and first president of Turkmenistan

Following Georgia's declaration of independence in 1991, South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared their desire to leave Georgia and remain part of the Soviet Union/Russia.

Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first democratically elected president

Barricade erected in Riga to prevent the Soviet Army from reaching the Latvian Parliament, July 1991

Tanks in Red Square during the 1991 August coup attempt

Signing of the agreement to establish the Commonwealth of Independent States, 8 December

The state emblem of the Soviet Union and the СССР letters (top) in the façade of the Grand Kremlin Palace were replaced by five double-headed Russian eagles (bottom) after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the eagles having been removed by the Bolsheviks after the revolution.

The upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet in its ultimate session, voting the USSR out of existence, December 26

Russian GDP since the end of the Soviet Union (from 2014 are forecasts)

Animated map showing independent states and territorial changes to the Soviet Union in chronological order

Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk celebrate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, May 9, 2018

Changes in national boundaries after the end of the Cold War

In the aftermath of the Cold War, several of the former Soviet republics have retained close links with Russia and formed multilateral organizations such as the CIS, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), and the Union State, for economic and military cooperation.

Soviet Union

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Transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.

Lenin, Trotsky and Kamenev celebrating the second anniversary of the October Revolution

The Russian famine of 1921–22 killed an estimated 5 million people.

Construction of the bridge through the Kolyma (part of the Road of Bones from Magadan to Jakutsk) by the workers of Dalstroy.

Five Marshals of the Soviet Union in 1935. Only two of them – Budyonny and Voroshilov – survived Great Purge. Blyukher, Yegorov and Tukhachevsky were executed.

The Battle of Stalingrad, considered by many historians as a decisive turning point of World War II.

From left to right, the Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill confer in Tehran, 1943.

Map showing greatest territorial extent of the Soviet Union and the states that it dominated politically, economically and militarily in 1960, after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but before the official Sino-Soviet split of 1961 (total area: c. 35,000,000 km2)

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (left) with US President John F. Kennedy in Vienna, 3 June 1961.

Nikolai Podgorny visiting Tampere, Finland on 16 October 1969

Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev and US President Jimmy Carter sign the SALT II arms limitation treaty in Vienna on 18 June 1979

Mikhail Gorbachev in one-to-one discussions with US President Ronald Reagan

The Pan-European Picnic took place in August 1989 on the Hungarian-Austrian border.

T-80 tank on Red Square during the August Coup

Internally displaced Azerbaijanis from Nagorno-Karabakh, 1993

Country emblems of the Soviet Republics before and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (note that the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (fifth in the second row) no longer exists as a political entity of any kind and the emblem is unofficial)

Sukarno and Voroshilov in a state meeting on 1958.

1960s Cuba-Soviet friendship poster with Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet stamp 1974 for friendship between USSR and India as both nations shared strong ties, although India was a prominent member of Non-Aligned Movement

Gerald Ford, Andrei Gromyko, Leonid Brezhnev and Henry Kissinger speaking informally at the Vladivostok Summit in 1974

Mikhail Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush signing bilateral documents during Gorbachev's official visit to the United States in 1990

Military parade on the Red Square in Moscow, 7 November 1964

The Grand Kremlin Palace, the seat of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, 1982

Nationalist anti-government riots in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, 1990

A medium-range SS-20 non-ICBM ballistic missile, the deployment of which in the late 1970s launched a new arms race in Europe in which NATO deployed Pershing II missiles in West Germany, among other things

From left to right: Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Popovich, Valentina Tereshkova and Nikita Khrushchev at the Lenin's Mausoleum in 1963

The DneproGES, one of many hydroelectric power stations in the Soviet Union

Workers of the Salihorsk potash plant, Belarus, 1968

Volzhsky Avtomobilny Zavod (VAZ) in 1969

Soviet stamp depicting the 30th anniversary of the International Atomic Energy Agency, published in 1987, a year following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster

Soviet stamp showing the orbit of Sputnik 1

Population of the Soviet Union (red) and the post-Soviet states (blue) from 1961 to 2009 as well as projection (dotted blue) from 2010 to 2100

Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, visiting the Lviv confectionery, Ukrainian SSR, 1967

Young Pioneers at a Young Pioneer camp in Kazakh SSR

Svaneti man in Mestia, Georgian SSR, 1929

An early Soviet-era poster discouraging unsafe abortion practices

Cover of Bezbozhnik in 1929, magazine of the Society of the Godless. The first five-year plan of the Soviet Union is shown crushing the gods of the Abrahamic religions.

The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow during its demolition in 1931

A paranja burning ceremony in the Uzbek SSR as part of Soviet Hujum policies

World War II military deaths in Europe by theater and by year. Nazi Germany suffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front.

2001 stamp of Moldova shows Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space

People in Donetsk celebrate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, 9 May 2018

Soviet singer-songwriter, poet and actor Vladimir Vysotsky in 1979

Valeri Kharlamov represented the Soviet Union at 11 Ice Hockey World Championships, winning eight gold medals, two silvers and one bronze

One of the many impacts of the approach to the environment in the USSR is the Aral Sea (see status in 1989 and 2014)

Landscape near Karabash, Chelyabinsk Oblast, an area that was previously covered with forests until acid rainfall from a nearby copper smelter killed all vegetation

Ethnographic map of the Soviet Union, 1941

Ethnographic map of the Soviet Union, 1970

All of the republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as fully independent post-Soviet states.

Commonwealth of Independent States

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Regional intergovernmental organization in Eastern Europe and Asia.

Signing of the agreement to establish the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 8 December 1991

The members of the council meeting in Moscow in 2017

Post-Soviet states underwent economic reforms and privatisation.

Georgia (country)

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Country located in the Caucasus, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, identifying itself as European.

"Gorgania" i.e. Georgia on Fra Mauro map

Patera depicting Marcus Aurelius uncovered in central Georgia, 2nd century AD

Northwestern Georgia is home to the medieval defensive Svan towers of Ushguli

Gelati Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Queen Tamar, the first woman to rule medieval Georgia in her own right.

King Vakhtang VI, a Georgian monarch caught between rival regional powers

The reign of George XII was marked by instability.

Noe Zhordania, Prime Minister of Georgia who was exiled to France after the Soviet takeover

The Bolshevik Red Army in Tbilisi on 25 February 1921. Saint David's church on the Holy Mountain is visible in the distance.

Georgian Civil War and the War in Abkhazia in August–October 1993

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holding a joint press conference with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili during the Russo-Georgian war

Salome Zourabichvili, the first woman elected as president of Georgia

Presidential residence at the Orbeliani Palace in Tbilisi

President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili, President of Moldova Maia Sandu, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the European Council Charles Michel during the 2021 Batumi International Conference. In 2014, the EU signed Association Agreements with all the three states.

Georgian built Didgori-2 during the military parade in 2011

A Ford Taurus Police Interceptor operated by the Georgian Patrol Police.

Map of Georgia highlighting the disputed territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region (South Ossetia), both of which are outside the control of the central government of Georgia

Köppen climate classification map of Georgia

View of the cave city of Vardzia and the valley of the Kura River below

Georgia's diverse climate creates varied landscapes, like these flat marshlands in the country's west

Southwest Georgia has a subtropical climate, with frequent rain and thick green vegetation

A proportional representation of Georgia's exports in 2019

One of several plants operated by HeidelbergCement in Georgia

Wine-making is a traditional component of the Georgian economy.

The most visited ski resort of Georgia, Gudauri

The Georgian Railways represent a vital artery linking the Black Sea and Caspian Sea – the shortest route between Europe and Central Asia.

Ethno-linguistic groups in the Caucasus region

Illuminated manuscript from medieval Georgia, showing a scene from nativity

Old Tbilisi – Architecture in Georgia is in many ways a fusion of European and Asian.

Rather than serving food in courses, traditional supras often present all that a host has to offer

Château Mukhrani, one of the centres of Georgia's viticulture in the 19th century, has recently been restored to produce its eponymous wine.

Dinamo Tbilisi, winner of 1981 European Cup Winners' Cup on stamp of Georgia, 2002

For most of the subsequent decade, post-Soviet Georgia suffered from economic crisis, political instability, ethnic conflict, and secessionist wars in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia

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Transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.

The Kurgan hypothesis places the Volga-Dnieper region of southern Russia and Ukraine as the urheimat of the Proto-Indo-Europeans.

Sergius of Radonezh blessing Dmitry Donskoy in Trinity Sergius Lavra, before the Battle of Kulikovo, depicted in a painting by Ernst Lissner

Tsar Ivan the Terrible, in an evocation by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1897.

Russian expansion and territorial evolution between the 14th and 20th centuries.

Napoleon's retreat from Moscow by Albrecht Adam (1851).

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and the Romanovs were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky during a 1920 speech in Moscow

Location of the Russian SFSR (red) within the Soviet Union in 1936

The Battle of Stalingrad, the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, ended in 1943 with a decisive Soviet victory against the German Army.

The "Big Three" at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin.

Mikhail Gorbachev in one-to-one discussions with Ronald Reagan in the Reykjavík Summit, 1986.

Vladimir Putin takes the oath of office as president on his first inauguration, with Boris Yeltsin looking over, 2000.

Vladimir Putin (third, left), Sergey Aksyonov (first, left), Vladimir Konstantinov (second, left) and Aleksei Chalyi (right) sign the Treaty on Accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia in 2014

Köppen climate classification of Russia.

Yugyd Va National Park in the Komi Republic is the largest national park in Europe.

Chart for the political system of Russia

Putin with G20 counterparts in Osaka, 2019.

Sukhoi Su-57, a fifth-generation fighter of the Russian Air Force.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, anti-war protests broke out across Russia. The protests have been met with widespread repression, leading to roughly 15,000 being arrested.

The Moscow International Business Center in Moscow. The city has one of the world's largest urban economies.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway line in the world, connecting Moscow to Vladivostok.

Mikhail Lomonosov (1711–1765), polymath scientist, inventor, poet and artist

Mir, Soviet and Russian space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001.

Peterhof Palace in Saint Petersburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is the most iconic religious architecture of Russia.

Moscow State University, the most prestigious educational institution in Russia.

Metallurg, a Soviet-era sanatorium in Sochi.

The Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, at night.

The Scarlet Sails being celebrated along the Neva in Saint Petersburg

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), in a 1893 painting by Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov

Kvass is an ancient and traditional Russian beverage.

Ostankino Tower in Moscow, the tallest freestanding structure in Europe.

Maria Sharapova, former world No. 1 tennis player, was the world's highest-paid female athlete for 11 consecutive years.

On 25 December 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, along with contemporary Russia, fourteen other post-Soviet states emerged.

Eurasian Economic Union

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Meeting of the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Bishkek, 2008. The CIS initiated the lengthy process of Eurasian integration.

Current decision-making process of the Eurasian Customs Union and the Single Economic Space

Selection of GDP PPP data (top 10 countries and blocs) in no particular order

The Moscow International Business Center is a commercial district in Moscow that is currently under construction. The complex includes some of Europe's tallest skyscrapers.

A silver altyn minted in 1711 during the reign of Peter the Great

The Trans-Siberian Railway is a vital link between the Russian Far East and the rest of Eurasia.

The Turkestan–Siberia Railway connects the Central Asian republics to Siberia.

Past and projected GDP (nominal) per capita in EAEU countries.

Free trade agreements of EEU. Red - EEU. Green - Countries that have FTA with EEU.

On 21 May 2014, Russia and China signed a $400 billion gas deal. Starting 2019, Russia plans to provide natural gas to China for the next 30 years.

Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sarkisian hold peace talks in Moscow on 2 November 2008.

Lama River – in the Moscow region of Russia

On the southern shore of Issyk-Kul lake, Issyk-Kul Region – Kyrgyzstan

A view of Mount Aragats from Aragatsotn – Armenia

A view of Mount Mönkh Saridag – Okinsky District, Russia

Saint Petersburg, the second-largest city and cultural capital of Russia

Yerevan, the capital and financial hub of Armenia

Business centre in central downtown Nur-Sultan

Almaty, the major commercial and cultural centre of Kazakhstan

Bishkek, the capital and financial hub of Kyrgyzstan

Member States of the Eurasian Economic Union
Observer states
Candidate states

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU or EEU) is an economic union of some post-Soviet states located in Eurasia.

Ukraine

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Country in Eastern Europe.

A gold Scythian neckpiece, from a royal kurgan in Pokrov (4th century BC).

The furthest extent of Kievan Rus', 1054–1132.

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at its maximum extent in 1619. Poland and the Polish Crown exercised power over much of Ukraine since 1569 and rejected the Ukrainian call for autonomy.

Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky established an independent Cossack state after the 1648 uprising against Poland.

Russia's victory over Charles XII of Sweden and his ally Ivan Mazepa at the Battle of Poltava (1709) destroyed Cossack autonomy.

Polish troops enter Kyiv in May 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War. Following the Peace of Riga signed on 18 March 1921, Poland took control of modern-day western Ukraine while Soviets took control of eastern and central Ukraine.

A starved man on the streets of Kharkiv, 1933. Collectivization of crops and their confiscation by Soviet authorities led to a major famine in Soviet Ukraine known as the Holodomor.

The territorial evolution of the Ukrainian SSR, 1922–1954

Marshal Timoshenko (born in the Budjak region) commanded numerous fronts throughout the war, including the Southwestern Front east of Kyiv in 1941.

Kyiv suffered significant damage during World War II, and was occupied by the Germans from 19 September 1941 until 6 November 1943.

Two future leaders of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev (left, pre-war CPSU chief in Ukraine) and Leonid Brezhnev (an engineer from Kamianske)

Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin signed the Belavezha Accords, dissolving the Soviet Union, on 8 December 1991.

Protesters at Independence Square on the first day of the Orange Revolution

Pro-EU demonstration in Kyiv, 27 November 2013, during the Euromaidan protests

Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, is shown in pink. Pink in the Donbas area represents areas held by the DPR/LPR separatists in September 2014 (cities in red).

OSCE SMM monitoring the movement of heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine, 4 March 2015

Simplified depiction of the biomes lying north of the Black Sea. The bright green belt girdling the Black Sea's southern coast, extending westwards, denotes a region of subtropics.

Topographic map of Ukraine (with borders and towns)

Pine forest near Klavdievo, Bucha Raion, Kyiv Oblast

Chart of the political system of Ukraine

Klovsky Palace, home to the Supreme Court of Ukraine

President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, President of Moldova Maia Sandu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Council President Charles Michel during the 2021 International Conference in Batumi. In 2014, the EU signed association agreements with all three countries.

In January 2016, Ukraine joined the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (green) with the EU (blue), established by the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement, opening its path towards European integration.

Henadii Lachkov, commander of the Ukrainian contingent in Multi-National Force – Iraq, kisses his country's flag

The Ukrainian frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy (U130)

Ukraine (2021) — major cities and adjacent countries

Kamianets-Podilskyi Castle, one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine

HRCS2 multiple unit. Rail transport is heavily utilised in Ukraine.

Electricity production by source, Ukraine

Linguistic map of Ukraine showing most common native language by city, town or village council according to 2001 census

The Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the main Christian cathedrals in Ukraine

The municipal children's hospital in Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast

The results of the 2014 parliamentary election with People's Front in yellow, Opposition Bloc in blue and Petro Poroshenko Bloc in red

A collection of traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs—pysanky. The design motifs on pysanky date back to early Slavic cultures.

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, foremost example of Cossack Baroque and one of Ukraine's most recognizable landmarks

Mykola Lysenko is widely considered to be the father of Ukrainian classical music

Ukrainian footballer Andriy Shevchenko celebrates a goal against Sweden at Euro 2012

Vitali Klitschko and his brother, Wladimir

It has participated in the quadripartite talks on the conflict in Moldova and promoted a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the post-Soviet state of Georgia.

Vladimir Putin

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Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has been serving as the president of Russia since 2012, and previously between 2000 and 2008.

Five-year-old Vladimir Putin with his mother, Maria, in July 1958

Putin's Stasi "Ausweis" (identification card). He was assigned as a KGB agent in Dresden, as a mid-level liaison to the "Stasi" (East German intelligence agency) in 1985. He held a job as a translator as a "cover" for his KGB work.

Putin, Lyudmila Narusova and Ksenia Sobchak at the funeral of Putin's former mentor Anatoly Sobchak, Mayor of Saint Petersburg (1991–1996)

Putin with President Boris Yeltsin on 31 December 1999, when Yeltsin announced his resignation

Vladimir Putin as acting president on 31 December 1999

Putin taking the presidential oath beside Boris Yeltsin, May 2000

Putin with Tom Brokaw before an interview on 2 June 2000

Putin with Junichiro Koizumi, Jacques Chirac, Gerhard Schröder, George W. Bush and other state leaders in Moscow during the Victory Day parade, 9 May 2005.

Putin, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and Lyudmila Putina at the state funeral of Boris Yeltsin in Moscow, April 2007

Nikolai Patrushev is believed to be one of the closest advisors to Putin

Putin at a bilateral meeting with U.S. president Barack Obama during the G8 summit in Ireland, 17 June 2013

Putin in talks with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president François Hollande, 17 October 2014

Putin meets with U.S. president Barack Obama in New York City to discuss Syria and ISIL, 29 September 2015

Putin and the newly appointed Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin meeting with members of Mishustin's Cabinet, 21 January 2020

Putin (dressed in the yellow hazmat suit) visits coronavirus patients at a Moscow hospital, 24 March 2020

Putin's first deputy chief of staff Sergey Kiriyenko (left) is in charge of Russia's domestic politics.

Putin holds a video call with U.S. president Joe Biden on 7 December 2021

Putin visited China and met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on 4 February 2022. China had allegedly requested that Russia delay the invasion until after the completion of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Putin in Moscow just hours after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began.

Protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Nice, France, 27 February 2022

Putin hosted a meeting of the Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), in Moscow, Russia, 16 May 2022

In May 2000, Putin introduced seven federal districts for administrative purposes. In January 2010, the 8th North Caucasus Federal District (shown here in purple) was split from the Southern Federal District. In March 2014, the new 9th Crimean Federal District was formed after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. In July 2016, it was incorporated into the Southern Federal District.

Russian GDP since the end of the Soviet Union (beyond 2014 are forecasts)

Putin with religious leaders of Russia, February 2001

Putin with Russia's long-serving minister of defense, Army General Sergey Shoygu, in the Eastern Military District, 2013

Russian opposition protest in Moscow, 26 February 2017

Putin attends the Orthodox Christmas service in the village Turginovo in Kalininsky District, Tver Oblast, 7 January 2016

Putin's visit to the United States, November 2001

Putin with Indian prime minister Modi in New Delhi

Putin with Xi Jinping during a state visit to Moscow, May 2015

Putin and Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, President of Turkmenistan, in October 2017

Ukrainian president Zelenskyy, German chancellor Merkel, French president Macron and Putin met in Paris on 9 December 2019 in the "Normandy Format" aimed at ending the War in Donbass.

Putin with Pope John Paul II and Holy See's Secretary of State Angelo Sodano on 5 June 2000.

Putin with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and U.S. president George W. Bush at the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Rome on 28 May 2002.

Putin with U.S. president Donald Trump at the summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, 16 July 2018

Putin held a meeting in Sochi with German chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline in May 2018

According to Putin, he and Russia have a particularly good relationship to neighboring country Finland. Picture of Putin handshaking with Sauli Niinistö, the president of Finland, in August 2019.

Putin and his wife Lyudmila meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2005

Putin and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on 22 May 2015

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and Putin in Moscow, on 16 February 2022, few days before the war in Ukraine. The meeting was urgently scheduled by Putin to discuss and detail important points about the two countries and the world. Brazil and Russia are members of BRICS

Putin with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, September 2018

Putin opens the Wall of Grief, a monument to victims of Stalinist repression, October 2017

Vladimir Putin's public approval 1999–2020 (Levada, 2020)

The Levada Center survey showed that 58% of surveyed Russians supported the 2017 Russian protests against high-level corruption.

Putin driving a Formula One car, 2010 ([[:File:Vladimir Putin driving a Formula 1.ogv|video]])

Putin and Lyudmila Putina at their wedding, 28 July 1983

Putin's close associate Arkady Rotenberg is mentioned in the Panama Papers, pictured 2018

Putin receives Barack Obama at his residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, 2009

Putin and wife Lyudmila in New York at a service for victims of the 11 September attacks, 16 November 2001

Normandy Format talks in October 2016 where Lavrov is the right-hand man of Putin while to his left is Vladislav Surkov; Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Angela Merkel and Petro Poroshenko are identifiable participants to this round table of twelve

Putin and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro at the virtual 14th BRICS Summit on 23 June 2022. Brazil and Russia are members of BRICS.

Putin with the chairman of the African Union and Senegalese President Macky Sall in Sochi, Russia, 3 June 2022

In March 2022, Putin was removed from all positions in the International Judo Federation (IJF)

Under Putin, the Kremlin has consistently stated that Russia has a sphere of influence and "privileged interests" over other Post-Soviet states, which are referred to as the "near abroad" in Russia.

Collective Security Treaty Organization

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Intergovernmental military alliance in Eurasia.

The CSTO meeting in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, 8 November 2018

The CSTO consists of select post-Soviet states.

Armenia

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Landlocked country located in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.

Armenian soldier of the Achaemenid army, circa 470 BC. Xerxes I tomb relief.

The pagan Garni Temple, probably built in the first century, is the only "Greco-Roman colonnaded building" in the post-Soviet states

The Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.

The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, 1198–1375.

In 1501–02, most of the Eastern Armenian territories including Yerevan were conquered by the emerging Safavid dynasty of Iran led by Shah Ismail I.

Capture of Erivan fortress by Russian troops in 1827 during the Russo-Persian War (1826–28) by Franz Roubaud.

The Government house of the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1920).

Advance of the 11th Red Army into the city of Yerevan.

The coat of arms of Soviet Armenia depicting Mount Ararat in the centre.

Armenians gather at Theater Square in central Yerevan to claim unification of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast with the Armenian SSR.

Armenian soldiers in 2008, during the ongoing and unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

21 September 2011 parade in Yerevan, marking the 20th anniversary of Armenia's re-independence.

Armenia's mountainous and volcanic topography.

Köppen-Geiger climate classification map for Armenia.

Carbon dioxide emissions in metric tons per capita in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Germany, Italy, USA in 2000–2012. World Bank data.

U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo with Armenian President Armen Sarkissian

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at Armenian Genocide memorial in Yerevan.

Armenian Air Force Su-25s during a military parade.

In April 2018, a quasi-authoritarian regime collapsed as a result of a nationwide protest movement in Armenia

A proportional representation of Armenia exports, 2019

Yerevan is the economic and cultural centre of Armenia.

Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD)to GDP ratio for the Black Sea countries, 2001–2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 12.3

GERD in the Black Sea region by sector of performance, 2005 and 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030 (2015), Figure 12.5

The Armenian population around the world

'''Historical and modern distribution of Armenians.
'''Settlement area of Armenians in early 20th century:

Portal to the Holy City at Echmiazin, the seat of the Catholicos

The 7th-century Khor Virap monastery in the shadow of Mount Ararat, the peak on which Noah's Ark is said to have landed during the biblical flood.

The Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan

The Armenia national football team in Dublin, Ireland

Chess Grandmaster Levon Aronian is a former FIDE No. 2 rated player and the fourth highest rated player in history.

Ancient Armenian Khachkars (cross-stones)

Queen Zabel's Return to the Palace, Vardges Sureniants (1909)

Human rights in Armenia tend to be better than those in most former Soviet republics and have drawn closer to acceptable standards, especially economically.

A report on Post-Soviet states

32 related topics with Alpha

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

Commonwealth of Independent States

Georgia (country)

Russia

Eurasian Economic Union

Ukraine

Vladimir Putin

Collective Security Treaty Organization

Armenia