ABSTRACT
Cooperative processes are usually studied using theories of cooperation. This study will depart from that pattern for important reasons, some inkling of which has already been provided. Regional cooperation and coalition theories could be considered for studying the phenomenon. But regional cooperation occurs among actors who are independent states. The political actors here including Russia were not recognized states in the realm of nation states. They wanted to be independent states but had not yet become so. The degree of difference between them and independent states was too large for regional cooperation theory to be appropriate.
