Leaders of four former Soviet Union republics have firmly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reportedly have plans to strengthen their „Union State“ and are looking to attract other former members of the dissolved Soviet Union, but the likelihood of other ex-USSR republics joining seems low in the face of the Ukrainian invasion. Belarus has remained one of Russia’s top allies since the start of the Russia-Ukraine War in late February, which drew condemnation from around the globe. But reports from Belarus‘ state-owned BelTA news agency indicate that Lukashenko and Putin are interested in taking the relationship between their countries to a more cooperative level in a move reminiscent of the former USSR, though authorities have yet to confirm these reports. „We are building a single Union State on the new principles to ensure that everyone’s interests are respected, that the sovereign independent states—Belarus and Russia—keep developing. I am sure that this union will attract other republics of the former Soviet Union,“ BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying during a meeting with Governor of Russia’s Voronezh Oblast Aleksandr Gusev in Minsk on Thursday. The Soviet Union was established in December 1922 and eventually grew to encompass 15 nations: Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, according to History.com. Leaders of four former Soviet Union nations have firmly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, making it unlikely that they would be willing to join a new iteration of the USSR.
