ABSTRACT
The dramatic struggle for self-determination in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which ended with formal recognition of their independence by Russia, showed that it was too early to put a full stop in the history of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has changed the post-Soviet space. Probably, Russia should have taken into account that it could itself be outplayed by the precedents created in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As soon as the status quo and traditional mechanisms for peaceful conflict settlement were broken, Moscow made a choice in favour of formal and legal recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The process of ethnic self-determination, launched with the disintegration of the USSR and created with that very model of authority and government, has not come to an end. The collapse of the former Soviet Union as an historical process cannot be considered as fully completed, unless ethno-political conflicts all over its territory are settled.
