Russia (21st Century Crisis)

The Union of Soviet States (Russian: Союз Советских государств, Ukrainian: Союз Радянських держав, Belarusian: Саюз Савецкіх дзяржаў), also known as the Second Soviet Union or just Soviet Union as well as Vostokslavia (lit. "Land of the East Slavs" in Russian), is a country in Eastern Europe that consists of Soviet Russia, Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Belarus. It was formed in 1994, two years after the collapse of the original Soviet Union. It was formed when the presidents of the post-USSR Russia, Ukraine and Belarus decided to unite and form a second confederation to combat the western world.

The Soviet Union borders Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the east, Romania to the south as well as the Black Sea and Kazakhstan to the west

Significant differences exist between this Soviet Union, and the preceding country of the same name. While communist leaders such as Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx are still hailed as national heroes, the governent of this union is evidently right-wing. The preceding Soviet Union also promoted Russian as an official language, and tried to culturally cleanse all other cultures. This one however, aims to protect Belarusian and Ukrainian cultures within the country. The government also protects and promotes Eastern Slavic Orthodoxy, while the preceding Soviet Union promoted atheism as a state religion.

Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are the founding member states. Kazakhstan had a referendum of whether to join, however the majority of Kazakhs, about 56% opted not to join, whilst maintaining friendly relations with the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union is currently one of the competing military powers of the world, having allies and puppet states in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.