Why Russia wants to restore the Soviet borders

nothing is easier than to denounce an evildoer and nothing is more difficult than to understand him but as russian ships shadow nato in the black sea and as putin threatens to knock the teeth out of foreign aggressors there seems to be little room for understanding with the collapse of the soviet union russia lost centuries of territorial expansionism critically exposed and at further risk of disintegration russia spent the turn of the millennium licking its wounds now a familiar disquiet has descended upon the post-soviet states uneasy eyes locked to moscow and likewise uneasy eyes look back for when one faces a cornered bear the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do i'm your host shirvan and welcome to caspian report today's video is sponsored by blinkist with everyone being busier than ever it seems like there is hardly enough time to spend learning blinkist is an app that takes the highlights from non-fiction books and condenses them to 15 minutes which you can either read or listen to they have over 14 million users and their library includes titles that i have reviewed in the past like on grand strategy and the new silk roads using blinkist you can go over the highlights of each title in a podcast style so if you're short on time this is the best technique to hone your knowledge the first 100 people to go to blinkist.com caspian report are going to get unlimited access for one week to try out you'll also get 25 off if you want the full membership so move fast and grab one of those political history books the seven day trial is completely free and you can cancel at any time during that trial stretching from west to east russia is a goliath on the world stage the country shares 20 000 kilometers in border with 16 states 12 of which were formerly part of its contiguous territory during the soviet era having such an extensive land border presents security liabilities deeply so the reasons for this are historical with the advent of the grand duchy of moscow in the 15th century the fledgling state faced an immediate and geopolitical calamity surrounded by hostile powers moscow's anxiety could only be dampened by expanding its geographic barriers be it rivers lakes mountains or seas consequently in the first centuries of its existence russia expanded at a rate of 1 belgium per year by the turn of the 18th century russia had grown to the extent of its modern borders even today russia's geography grants it substantial advantages the frozen amorphous crown of arctic ice that adorns the russian landmass deters any notion of a land-based invasion from the north a naval approach to murmansk and arkhangelsk is unpalpable even to the most experienced admirals doing so would require traversing two major choke points the gi uk gap and the bear gap the first referring to the open ocean between greenland iceland and the united kingdom and the second being the gap between swalbar island and northern norway these choke points are easily defensible through the use of submarines of which russia has plenty in the east the rugged shorelines of siberia fall away to the bering strait the sea of okhotsk and the sea of japan the short distance between alaska and russia may seem traversable but the arctic climate the strong tidal movement and the presence of heavy firepower at either side restricts the movement of military forces across the strait comparably through the control of the kamchatka peninsula and the kural islands russia can restrict hostile actions in the sea of okotsk and the sea of japan meanwhile the stunnaway range and the scion mountains cement russia's foothold in the far east even when movement is possible the rough climate restricts navigation further still much of russia's eastern frontier offers its military the upper hand in any engagement however things are more troubling in eastern europe running from st petersburg to kazan to volgograd is the russian heartland about 80 percent of the russian public resides in this area and nearly every decision the kremlin makes is based on the needs and interests of its heartland however the heartland shares the periphery with six other former soviet republics moldova ukraine belarus lithuania estonia and latvia the collective space they share is one of the most problematic regions in the world to start there are two anomalies the crimean peninsula and the kaliningrad exclave both function as strategic military bases that deny the entry of hostile forces in the black sea and the baltic sea both regions are packed with heavy armaments and area denial weapons foreign powers tend to think twice when nearing crimea and kaliningrad should a hostile power control these assets movement in the russian heartland would be immediately exposed to disruptions in between from north to south is the european plain this permissive terrain extends like a triangle from the netherlands to the ural mountains it forms a conduit widening as it stretches eastward by the time the european plane reaches the borders of the russian federation its width jumps to well over 2 000 kilometers making it the largest exposed landscape in the world the terrain here is flat open and indefensible main battle tanks offer some protection in these types of terrain which is why russia has about 13 000 of them accounting for almost one fifth of the global fleet but even so no amount of weaponry can fully defend two thousand kilometers of flat terrain moreover east of the border with ukraine the rolling landscape continues uninterrupted for 750 kilometers to the city of astrakhan on the caspian sea known as the volga grad gap perhaps no region is more fundamental to the existence of the russian state should a hostile force close this gap it would effectively dissolve russia's control over the caucasus the black sea and the caspian sea in both world wars the german military attempted to close the volga grad gap and in both attempts russia's survival hung on a nice edge until long after the invasion was repelled on the northern rim of the european border said the baltic nations historically lacking the strength to pose a threat to russia alone the baltic states have often acted as conduits for great powers from the swedish invasion of russia in the 18th century to the german offenses in the 20th century plenty have tried entering the russian heartland through the baltics the collapse of the soviet union placed the baltics in the hands of nato which has granted the three republics the confidence to negotiate with russia on equal footing a stance that is nigh on impossible for other post-soviet republics the loss of its east european holdings caused moscow dearly both politically and financially moscow has been forced to maintain a massive border with some of the most sophisticated militaries in the world it has been an extremely costly status quo thus to minimize its exposure russia needs to anchor itself by the baltic sea and the carpathian mountains in western ukraine now the corpethians are not impenetrable but they offer premium advantage to the occupying force in an otherwise flat space meanwhile control of the baltics would allow the russians to push their frontier all the way to kaliningrad hence by restoring the soviet borders moscow would reduce its exposed flank by the european plane to 600 kilometers a significant drop from the current 2 000 kilometers ideally the russians would want to push west as much as they can preferably into poland this then explains russia's stalemate with the western bloc think of the european plane as a grand chessboard where one must maximize the position of its pawns by strategically placing them the further nato pushes east into the european plane the more flexible its strategic planning becomes the more room for error it gains the russians meanwhile would be left still more exposed and compelled into even more military spending likewise the more russia pushes westward the fewer options nato has and the greater the margin for error on the russian side becomes not to mention russia wouldn't have to spend so much on defense yes retaking the former soviet territories is the ultimate objective by supporting separatist forces moscow aims to place its neighbors in frozen conflicts from which the only reprieve is the re-entry into russia's sphere of influence it's a policy that hasn't always worked as planned more often than not it has backfired dramatically things are slightly more different to the southeast the caucasus presents a roadblock to geopolitical ambitions it's the place where great powers have historically converged even today turkish iranian and american influences are proliferating should the russians let their guard down the caucasus would swiftly turn against them the greater caucasus range stretching from sochi by the black sea to baku on the caspian grants russia a layer of defense over its fertile planes and transportation networks to the north however the north caucasus which is part of the russian federation is a hotbed for extremist movements russia retains control over the region by turning the local actors against one another still to gain long-lasting authority it needs to anchor by the lesser caucasus mountains and the aras river which runs alongside the southern parameters of georgia armenia and azerbaijan these nations make up the south caucasus and control over them would provide the russians with additional layers of protection in the north caucasus it would also mark a firm line separating russia from iran and turkey this is why the soviet union extended its borders of the entirety of the caucasus and russia wants to restore those holdings policy makers in moscow exercise influence over the region by exploiting communal ethnic conflicts the trouble is that the local actors with their localized issues be it chechen separatists or georgia's nato aspirations are well aware of the geopolitical weight they carry and they tend to pull in rival powers in the strife for influence and power this is what makes the south caucasus a vocal point in regional politics further east is central asia stripped of its soviet borders russia is severely exposed at this flank east of the altai mountains the peaks fall away to rolling grasslands and windswept prairies the kazakh and ponto caspian steps stretch across the wider russian border here the nearest geographic speed bump is the ural which leaves a flat gap as wide as 650 kilometers from the ural mountains to the caspian sea this terrain is indefensible and history proves it for centuries turkic warlords used the steps as a highway to push into russia and europe in the 13th century the conquest was so thorough that it paralyzed russian statehood for centuries only in the 19th century when russia gained control over the central asian hinterlands did it fully secure its southern flanks the altai mountains with summits at four kilometers and the tianshan range and the palmyra mountains with elevations at seven kilometers act as physical walls separating the russian and chinese spheres of influence simultaneously the barren karakum desert in the south separates central asia from iranian influence the centralized soviet machinery controlled all these geographic elements which in turn made kazakhstan uzbekistan turkmenistan kyrgyzstan and tajikistan a collective buffer against any power arising from asia but the collapse of the soviet union overturned the regional power dynamic today there exists a new rivalry in central asia from the natural gas veins of the caspian sea to the agricultural wealth of the fergana valley foreign powers are descending on the carcass of the soviet union it's an unspoken duel but one that is very much alive of particular importance is china's entry through its belt and road initiative china provides the central asian states an alternative partner in meeting their economic and security concerns slowly but assuredly beijing is overcoming the geographic barriers by the use of modern technologies and massive investments in infrastructure china is playing the long game it is not going to play second fiddle to russia indefinitely as its venture capital investments continue russia risks being reduced to a second tier power in central asia which would then turn the region into a liability thus to nullify any threat from asia russia needs to restore the soviet boundaries in central asia the most cost effective way to retain its hegemony is by using asymmetric tools of statecraft such as ethnic minorities conflict mediation weapon deals ownership of enterprises and even the formation of supranatural organizations like the collective security treaty organization and the eurasian economic union the fact that the central asian states are landlocked makes moscow's power projections all the more inescapable all these soft power components strengthen russia's veneer of legitimacy and in geopolitics legitimacy is sometimes more valuable than any arsenal taken together it's clear that the soviets had shaped their boundaries and borders with great diligence both in eastern europe the caucasus as well as central asia the loss of those territories has exposed modern russia to a multitude of hazards this is why putin describes the collapse of the soviet union as the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century without its soviet borders acting as a shell russia feels intimidated by the eu's and nato's eastward advance while regional powers including china proactively contest its influence in the caucasus and central asia the russians have their backs against the wall and from their understanding there's only one thing to do turn around and fight to restore the soviet geography because to know a nation's geography is to know its foreign policy i've been your host shirvan from caspian report if you like our contents and want to support us to remain independent and self-sustaining check out our patreon platform the link will be in the description thank you for your time and so you

Channel: CaspianReport

Views: 1,319,300

Keywords: Russia, Soviet Union, USSR, Soviet, NATO, Black Sea, Baltic Sea, Asia, China, United States, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, CSTO, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Russian, Geography, Interesting, Facts, Moscow, Kremlin, Power, Geopolitics, Caspian Sea, Baltics, European Plain, Central Asia, Projection, Influence, Poland

Id: zwzliJF0-SI

Length: 17min 27sec (1047 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 20 2021