Near Abroad: Putin, the West, and the Contest over Ukraine and the Caucasus

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, it invaded Georgia. Both states are part of Russia's "near abroad"-newly independent states that were once part of the Soviet Union. While the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 faded from the headlines in the wake of the global recession, the geopolitical contest that created it did not. Six years later, the specter of a revanchist Russia returned when Putin's forces invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula. Crimea's annexation and follow on conflict in eastern Ukra...