ABSTRACT
Conventional wisdom holds that with the end of the Cold War, there is now a certain "regionalization of security". In place of the integrated global security environment that was formed by the bipolar confrontation, there are now a number of actual and potential regional focuses of controversies, antagonisms, and conflicts, as well as emerging power centers, coalitions, and security regimes. The post-Soviet security space has split into several relatively independent geostrategic areas. Apart from Russia, which has its own internal security problems, there are the southern Baltic countries, the western region of Ukraine and Moldova, and the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Russia is challenged by the urgent need to adjust its foreign and security policies to the drastic decline of its economic and military power, and to the specifics of the changing strategic landscapes and maps. Developments in the Southern Tier in the 1990s are creating an unfavorable security environment for Russia.
