West or East? Changing directions of supply of products of the republics of the former USSR in conditions of global instability

Abstract

Due to the collapse of the USSR and the destruction of economic cooperation, all the former Soviet republics traded among themselves as independent states, and trade was carried out not at domestic (as before), but at world prices. New state borders (previously internal) prevented the export and transit of products to "third countries". The purpose of the study is to characterize the export of certain types of products in the post-Soviet space by country in dynamics from 1995 to 2020. The data was from UNCTAD. We used the principles of a systematic approach, in particular historical, analytical, mathematical-statistical and cartographic research methods. Russia remains the main supplier of mineral resources to the republics of the former Soviet Union, but its role in the foreign trade of the republics as a whole is declining. Exports began to consist mainly of exports of raw materials. Goods from the countries of the former USSR are exported mainly to the Asian market. Trade between countries is affected not only by geographical factors - it is easier to trade with neighbors, but also by other factors, including the ability to transport products around the world. Therefore, the spatial diversification of exports of steel, mineral fertilizers, and grain is higher than that of oil and natural gas, which are traded mainly through pre-laid pipelines. Interstate territorial disputes that have grown since the collapse of the USSR are harmful to economic cooperation. Difficulties arise in relations between such republics of the former Soviet Union as Russia and Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Soviet times, there was close cooperation between them, but now it is broken. This hinders the economic development of these countries.