Post-Soviet conflicts


This article lists the post-Soviet conflicts, the violent political and ethnic conflicts in the countries of the former Soviet Union since shortly before its official breakup in December 1991.
Some of these conflicts such as the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis or the 2013 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine were due to political crises in the successor states. Others involved separatist movements attempting to break away from one of the successor states.
According to Gordon M. Hahn, between 1990 and 2013 the post-Soviet conflicts led to the death of at least 196,000 people, excluding pogroms and interethnic violence.

Frozen conflicts

Some post-Soviet conflicts ended in a stalemate or without a peace treaty, and are referred to as frozen conflicts. This means that a number of former-Soviet states are left sovereign over the entirety of their territory in name only. In reality, they do not exercise full control over areas still under the control of rebel factions. Rebel groups are essentially left independent over large chunks of the territories they claim. In many instances, they have created institutions which are similar to those of fully fledged independent states, albeit with little or no international recognition. Notable such cases include Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia; Nagorno-Karabakh on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia; Transnistria in land near to Moldova's eastern border with Ukraine; and the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic breakaway areas in Ukraine. The Republic of Crimea is also arguably part of this group of unrecognised states, as the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation remains unrecognized by a majority of UN member states and is contested by the government of Ukraine.
Recognition of these rebel groups vary. In some instances such as Transnistria, no UN-member state has given its recognition, including Russia. In the case of Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have recognized them.

Central Asia

North Caucasus

South Caucasus

Eastern Europe