The Soviet Union was a huge empire composed of 15 countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. At its peak, the Soviet Union had a territory of 22.4 million square kilometers and a population of 280 million, making it a superpower on a par with the United States. In the later stage of its development, due to factors such as institutional rigidity, corruption, and economic recession, the Soviet Union eventually collapsed and collapsed.
Thirty years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how are its 15 member states mixed up now, who is the best? Who is the worst?
1. The Three East Slavic States
The three East Slavic states, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, are all descendants of the Eastern Rus's Lady and are three fraternal countries.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited 70% of the Soviet Union's legacy and international status, making it still a world power, but the heavy industry, which was comparable to that of the United States during the Soviet period, gradually declined in the hands of Russia. Today, Russia's economy mainly relies on the export of oil, natural gas, timber and other resources. Russia is rich in land and resources, and has reached the level of a middle-income country by selling resources.
In 2023, Russia's GDP per capita is $14,600. In 1991, after Russia's independence, the United States continued to expand NATO eastward, compressing Russia's strategic space and making Russia extremely uncomfortable. At the same time, Russia has been plagued by war since independence, fighting two Chechen wars and the Russian-Georgian war. In the past two years, Russia has been mired in the Russian-Ukrainian war. The United States has seized the opportunity to enlist its allies to intensify sanctions against Russia, which has made Russia's economy even worse, with exports and imports blocked, development struggling, and the people even more miserable.
Belarus, a hardcore ally of Russia. Belarus did not receive much heritage from the Soviet Union and did not have rich resources, but because of its close relationship with Russia, Belarus was hostile to the United States and other countries, which suppressed Belarus and made Belarus's economic development difficult. With a GDP per capita of $8,567 in 2023, Belarus is a poor country in Europe.
Ukraine, once a brotherly country of Russia, has been friendly for generations, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had the idea of turning to Western countries in order to develop its economy. Ukraine is between Russia and NATO, and is seen by Russia as a buffer zone between itself and NATO, and Ukraine's accession to NATO will allow NATO to deploy its own missiles to Russia's doorstep, which is difficult for Russia to accept.
In 2014, after a wave of anti-Russia in Ukraine, angry Russians sent troops to occupy Crimea, a strategic place in the Black Sea region, and annexed it to their territory. Crimea was once Russian territory, but during the Soviet era, Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the union of Ukraine and Russia, and Russia recaptured it in 2014.
The Crimea incident has made Russia and Ukraine completely hostile, and has also pushed Ukraine to the Western camp. Several oblasts in eastern Ukraine, predominantly ethnic Russians, do not want to turn to the West, want to get rid of Ukraine and join Russia, so conflicts broke out with the Ukrainian authorities.
In 2022, Russia launched a special military operation against Ukraine in order to help the pro-Russian armed forces in eastern Ukraine, and the Russian-Ukrainian war broke out.
Ukraine, with the world's most fertile black soil, is known as the breadbasket of Europe. At the same time, when Ukraine became independent, it also inherited a large number of industrial industries from the Soviet Union, especially the military industry, but after Ukraine's independence, it did not have the strength to maintain the huge military power of the Soviet Union, so its military industry quickly declined. There are also serious problems such as oligopoly and corruption in Ukraine, which has made Ukraine's economic development sluggish and unsatisfactory, and it is one of the poorest countries in Europe. In 2022, after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukraine's cities and towns were destroyed by the war, devastated, and the economy was on the verge of collapse.
2. Five Central Asian countries
The five Central Asian countries are Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
The five Central Asian countries, located in the inland region of Asia, have drought and little rainfall, inconvenient transportation, and do not have their own advantageous industries, especially industrial industries, which makes the economic development of Central Asia has been very poor. During the Soviet era, the countries of Central Asia were very dependent on various subsidies from the Soviet Union. The people of Central Asia feared that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they would no longer be able to receive subsidies from the Soviet Union, so the people of Central Asia did not want to see the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia, which saw the Central Asian countries as its economic burden, insisted on their independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. After independence, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan became middle-income countries due to the discovery of oil, natural gas and other resources, and relied on the sale of resources, while the economic development of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan is still slow and low-income countries.
3. The three Baltic states
The three Baltic states are Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.
The three Baltic states are three small countries located on the coast of the Baltic Sea, with convenient transportation and beautiful scenery, suitable for the development of industry, commerce and tourism.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia are the three richer countries in Europe, but because of their strategic location on the Baltic Sea coast, Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union incorporated them into their territory by force. After joining the Soviet Union, the living standards of the people of the three Baltic countries continued to decline, and the gap with Greece and other countries widened, which made the three Baltic countries lack a sense of identity with the Soviet Union and wanted to be independent.
In 1990, after the Soviet Union was in trouble and crumbling, the three Baltic states were the first to become independent from the Soviet Union. After independence, they soon joined NATO and the European Union. Backed by the European Union, coupled with the unique geographical advantages of the three Baltic countries, they quickly developed and became a wealthy country. In 2023, Lithuania's GDP per capita is $24,000, Estonia's GDP per capita is $29,000, and Trevia's GDP per capita is $21,400. The three countries are economically prosperous and have the protection of NATO, and they are doing very well.
4. Three Transcaucasian countries
The three countries of Transcaucasia are Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. After the independence of Georgia and Armenia, there has been a constant war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Nagorno-Karabakh region was once owned by Armenia, but during the Soviet era, it was assigned to Azerbaijan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia wanted to return the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and the Nagorno-Karabakh region also wanted to return to Armenia, but Azerbaijan did not give it, and a war broke out between the two sides. After Georgia's independence, South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the territory have always wanted to become independent from Georgia. Russia, the former big brother, is also behind the support of independent forces in Georgia, which has kept Georgia in turmoil.
After the independence of the three Transcaucasian countries, the economic development was not satisfactory, and they were still in the midst of war and turmoil, and their life was not as good as in the Soviet Union.
5. Moldova
After Moldova's independence, its German-left region has been fighting for independence, which has also made Moldova feel uneasy, and it is not as good as it was in the Soviet Union.
On the whole, it can be seen that the 15 member states of the Soviet Union, the three Baltic states (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia) became rich countries after independence, and they lived better. Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova are plagued by war and are doing poorly. Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have become middle-income countries by selling resources such as oil. Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have poor economic development, despite internal stability.