WHAT KIND OF THE CIS WOULD DO

The USSR's dissolution has thrown open the problem of what interstate order will replace the former Soviet empire. There are several competi ng concepts on the new relationships to emerge between Moscow on the o ne hand and the non-Russian New independent States (NIS) on the other. Neo-imperial designs are being advocated by Russians as well as relat ions on the basis of independence. It has turned out in the meanwhile that, to a very considerable extent capability (particularly in terms of Russia's economic and financial potential) rather than intent plays a crucial role. Andrei Zagorski, Deputy Director of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, presents a scholarly analysis of the problem in the context of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) which had been created in December 1991 to fill the void resulti ng from the USSR's demise. As it has soon turned out, the participatin g countries' underlying ideas were, and still are, quite different.