The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. It was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945, as well as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, its seat at the United Nations was transferred to the Russian Federation, which is its continuator state.
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👉 Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Nuclear sharing
Nuclear sharing is a concept in deterrence theory in which a nuclear-armed country deploys nuclear weapons on the territory of a country that does not possess nuclear weapons and extended its nuclear deterrent to that country. Nuclear sharing typically also involves joint planning and training processes for potentially using them, going beyond nuclear stationing or nuclear basing, which refer to a nuclear-armed country's deployment of nuclear weapons on foreign soil without an operational role for the host country's military and government.
It was originally conceived during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union placed their own nuclear weapons in many non-nuclear countries of the American-aligned First World and the Soviet-aligned Second World, as part of the nuclear arms race between the two sides. However, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the concept continues to be practiced by the United States and Russia. United States nuclear weapons, for delivery by fighter aircraft, are based in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Russian nuclear weapons, for delivery by aircraft and short-range missiles, are deployed in Belarus.
In this Dossier
- ⭐ Core Definition: Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union
- 👉 Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Nuclear sharing
- Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Post-Soviet states
- Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Russia and the United Nations
- Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of List of states with nuclear weapons
- Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Soviet Union and the United Nations
Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they existed as Union Republics, which were the top-level constituents of the Soviet Union. There are 15 post-Soviet states in total: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Each of these countries succeeded their respective Union Republics: the Armenian SSR, the Azerbaijan SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, the Estonian SSR, the Georgian SSR, the Kazakh SSR, the Kirghiz SSR, the Latvian SSR, the Lithuanian SSR, the Moldavian SSR, the Russian SFSR, the Tajik SSR, the Turkmen SSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Uzbek SSR. In Russia, the term "near abroad" (Russian: ближнее зарубежье, romanized: bližneye zarubežye) is sometimes used to refer to the post-Soviet states other than Russia.
Following the transition period and cessation of the existence of the Soviet Union, post-Soviet states and the international community de facto and de jure recognized Russia as the only continuator state to the Soviet Union as a whole, rather than to just the Russian SFSR including UN and UNSC membership (see agreements in Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union). The other post-Soviet states were recognized as successors only to their corresponding Union Republics and to international treaties concluded by the Soviet Union. All 12 post-Soviet states are successors of the Soviet Union, but not continuators.
Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Russia and the United Nations
The Russian Federation continued (see Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union) to use the Soviet Union's seat, including its permanent membership on the Security Council in the United Nations after the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, which originally co-founded the UN in 1945. The continuity was supported by the USSR's former members and was not objected to by the UN membership; Russia accounted for more than 75% of the Soviet Union's economy, the majority of its population and 75% of its land mass; in addition, the history of the Soviet Union began in Russia with the October Revolution in 1917 in Petrograd. If there was to be a continuator to the Soviet seat on the Security Council among the former Soviet republics, these factors made Russia seem a logical choice.
Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of List of states with nuclear weapons
There are currently nine sovereign states that are generally understood to possess nuclear weapons, though only eight formally acknowledge possessing them. In order of first successful nuclear test, the world's nine nuclear-armed states are the United States (1945), Russia (1949), the United Kingdom (1952), France (1960), China (1964), India (1974), Pakistan (1998), and North Korea (2006); Israel is believed to have acquired nuclear weapons around 1967, but has never openly tested or formally acknowledged having them. Under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China are recognized "nuclear-weapons states" (NWS). They are also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Israel, India, and Pakistan never signed the NPT, while North Korea acceded to it in 1985 before announcing withdrawal in 2003.
South Africa developed nuclear weapons by 1982 but dismantled them around 1989 and joined the NPT in 1991. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus had nuclear weapons deployed on their territories, but agreed to transfer them to Russia (which inherited the Soviet Union's international rights and obligations) and join the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon states.
Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union in the context of Soviet Union and the United Nations
The Soviet Union was a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the Security Council. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its UN seat was transferred to the Russian Federation, the continuator state of the USSR (see Succession, continuity and legacy of the Soviet Union).