Only Now Do We See the Real Disintegration of the USSR

... Russia’s Accession to the Council of Europe But I understand why it happened. From the Russian point of view— present even among liberal Russian politicians— the logic was: we, the Russian elite, deconstructed the Soviet empire and this was our decision. We set those countries free and allowed them to go their own way, and they should be grateful for it. We didn’t try to prevent their independence, we didn’t suppress their request for independence, but on the contrary, we helped them to build ...