The USSR and the CIS in Russian Public Opinion

Abstract

It is only five years since the Soviet Union ceased to exist and a phantom surrogate for it was createhamely, the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States]. The anniversary was noted, a balance sheet was drawn up, and the successes and failures of the processes of integration and disintegration within this union have been analyzed by economists, geopoliticians, cultural experts, and ethnologists. It is now time for students of public opinion as well to draw a line, for the issue of how Russia's population relates to its own great-power past and the way people perceive the new realities of the CIS exert, if not decisive, at least very significant influence on the intellectual and political situation in the country, and for a long time to come they will remain a card that various parties and groups can play.