RUSSIA AND THE CIS IN 2008: Axis of Authoritarianism?

In this article the author discusses events that took place in Russian and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) during 2008. The author notes that the transfer of presidential power from Vladimir Putin to Dmitry Medvedev caused no alteration in Russian domestic or foreign policy. The actions taken by the Russian armed forces against the Georgian republic did result in foreign policy tensions with a number of Asian countries including China and Japan. Also considered was the relative economic prosperity of the region and the impact of the 2009 global economic crisis.