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Armenia joins the International Criminal Court, the latest move among former
Soviet states to affirm civic principles different from the Kremlin's.

By the Monitor's Editorial Board
October 4, 2023

The Soviet Union, with its 15 states, collapsed more than three decades ago.
Yet for 14 of those states, the struggle to escape Russia's orbit and
autocratic ways continues. The latest example is Armenia. Its parliament
voted Tuesday to join the International Criminal Court, joining 123 other
nations and obligating Armenia to arrest Russian leader Vladimir Putin on
war crime charges if he sets foot in the country.

Like most former Soviet states, Armenia was shocked at last year's invasion
of Ukraine. It also saw how Russia, a treaty ally, failed last month to
prevent Azerbaijan from taking by force an ethnic Armenian enclave within
the recognized Azerbaijani border. Joining the International Criminal Court
is Armenia's way to deal with both events.

"Large parts of Armenian society, particularly young people, feel betrayed
by Moscow and will probably drift out of Russia's sphere of influence,"
writes Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in
Berlin, in the Financial Times.

As former Soviet states keep making moves to distance themselves from
Moscow, Mr. Putin is becoming more isolated. In September, he was forced to
visit the pariah state of North Korea to ask for military aid. "The world is
getting smaller for the autocrat in the Kremlin," said Ursula von der Leyen,
president of the European Commission.

Since the Ukraine invasion, Moldova has beefed up its defenses against
Russian disinformation. In the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan, many
parents worry that Russian-language schools will teach Kremlin propaganda.
Other countries in that region have sought to broaden ties with the West. In
New York last month, Joe Biden became the first American president to meet
the heads of state of the five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Last year, many of
those states welcomed tens of thousands of young Russian men fleeing the
military draft.

In Kazakhstan, Russia's war in Ukraine "has been jarring for many Kazakhs,
including those whose first language is Russian," sociologist Azamat
Junisbai told The Beet news site. As a result, many Russian speakers in
Kazakhstan are learning the Kazakh language in a sign of civil loyalty.

"The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine showed how values of
democracy and civic engagement can unite people of different backgrounds and
overcome heavy colonial legacies," Botakoz Kassymbekova, a historian at the
University of Basel, told The Beet. "Kazakh Russians play a pivotal role in
post-colonial healing and a decolonized future, just as those who identify
themselves as Kazakhs do."

The responses to Russia's aggression vary in its borderland states. Yet
almost all are affirming an independence within even as they cope with a
threat without.