In Moscow's Shadows 251: The Near Abroad Recedes: Armenia and Belarus
6/7/202640 min
Russia still talks about the “Near Abroad” as if the map never changed, but the region is changing anyway. After a quick touch on Zelensky's open letter to Putin and the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, I dive into the relative trajectories of Armenia, currently at the polls, and Belarus, emphatically not. Despite its continued use of this problematic, imperialist term the "Near Abroad," in different ways, Moscow’ is finding its influence fraying across the former Soviet space, and why the Kremlin is leaning harder on pressure, deniability, and narrative spin to compensate for a shrinking sphere of influence.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMark Galeotti· Host0:00
Time to head to the near abroad, and yes, I am aware of just how problematic that term is, specifically Armenia and Belarus. [upbeat music] Hello, I'm Mark Galeotti, and welcome to My View of Russia in Moscow Shadows. This podcast of varying length, frequency, and format, yet always reassuringly low production values, is supported by generous and perspicacious patrons like you, and also by the crisis exercise software company, Conductor. Yes, I'm not really gonna be talking about the current news of the moment. I'm not really gonna be talking about Zelenskyy's open letter to Putin. Look, let's be clear. This is not actually a peace initiative on his part. Really, it's a bit of trolling, and also it's an overture to Europeans to ensure that if they do engage with Russia, as is being discussed, they do so as Ukrainian partners, not as neutral parties, which after all, let's be clear, they're not. You can't arm and bankroll one side in a war and then pretend you're not involved. And I'm not making a criticism of Zelenskyy when I say this. He's doing his job, and