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TracesoftheSovietUnion,WojciechGórecki
Opinion&Analysis
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byanearliercivilisation.Seeingthemwekeepthinkingthatwehavealreadyseen
somethinglikethiselsewhereandthatourneighbourhassomethingsimilaras
well.Giventhesefeelings,IdaresaythattheartistsoftheSputnikcollectivehave
createdtheirownschoolofpresentingareality–thepost-Sovietone,atleast.
Commondenominators
However,istalkingaboutapost-Sovietrealityjustifiedinthefirstplace?Oris
itmoreofanofence?Orputanotherway,doesthetermupost-Soviet”evenmake
sensetoday–thatis,26yearssincetheSovietUnioncollapsed?Politicalscien-
tiststendtoanswerthisquestionwithauno”
.Teypointtothediversityofthefor-
merrepublics–nowindependentstates–andthatitisincorrecttotreatthemas
oneuniformgroup.
Letustaketheexampleoftwocountries:LatviaandKyrgyzstan.Whatdothey
reallyhaveincommon?LatviaisamemberoftheEuropeanUnion(andthree
yearsagoitalsointroducedtheeuro)andNATO.Kyrgyzstanisamemberofthe
CommonwealthofIndependentStatesandtwoMoscow-dominatedintegration
structures–theCollectiveSecurityTreatyOrganisationandtheEurasianEco-
nomicUnion.Latviaisrelativelywell-of,Kyrgyzstanisdefinitelymuchpoorer.
LatviahasChristianroots(withProtestantismbeingthedominantreligion),and
inKyrgyzstanthemajorityofthepopulationareMuslim.Latviaishighlyurban-
ised(around70percentofthepopulationlivesincities),Kyrgyzstanismostlyru-
ral(around70percentofpeopleliveinthecountryside).Latviaisflat(itshighest
umountain”isslightlyover300meters),whileKyrgyzstanisquitemountainous
withpeaksreaching7,000metresabovethesealevel.Inpractice,theonlycom-
mondenominatorthatconnectsthetwostatesistheirSovietpast.Isthatpast
enoughtotalkaboutanymodern-dayconnections?
TeworksoftheSputnikphotographerssuggestthattheanswerisuyes”
.Inoth-
erwords,eventhesmallestcommondenominatorisenoughtofindrelevantties.
Teirworkshowsthatthepost-Sovietspacestillexiststoday,in2017.Itincludes
atleasttwelvestates:Belarus,Moldova,Russia,Ukraine,Armenia,Azerbaijan,
Georgia(inSouthCaucasus)aswellasfivestatesinCentralAsia(includingKa-
zakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,TurkmenistanandUzbekistan).Evenifweex-
cludethethreeBalticstates(Estonia,LithuaniaandLatvia),whichwereincorpo-
ratedintotheSovietUnionatalaterstageandprobablyabsorbedtheleastamount
ofSovietness,thespacestillmakesupquiteanimpressiveterritory.
Yet,whatarethecommondenominatorsofthisvastterritory?Whatareitsde-
terminants,oroecumenes–touseatermoftheformerfellowwiththeCarnegie
