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Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the problem of Russiaʼs relations with the countries of the former USSR has traditionally been the focus of attention of both the academic and the expert community. This issue becomes especially urgent in the context of significant changes in world politics caused by the rapid deterioration of relations between Russia and the western world following the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis. This article identifies the key economic, political and social factors having a negative impact on the current dynamics of relations between the Russian Federation and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and thereby gradually decreasing Russiaʼs influence in the former Soviet Union.The article is structured around three groups of factors -objective, ambivalent and subjective -which impede the growth of Russiaʼs influence in the former Soviet Union. Objective factors are related to economic and political issues, ambivalent (mixed) factors are those of sociocultural and historical nature and subjective factors are predominantly psychological. Based on an extensive analysis of relevant material, the authors conclude that the CIS countries refuse to follow the pro-Russian path not only (and in some cases not so much) due to the objective need of the post-Soviet countries for diversified political, trading and economic ties, but also (and rather) for several subjective, social and cultural, political and psychological factors considered in detail below. An important conclusion of this research is that most subjective factors negatively affecting the efficiency of Russiaʼs policy in the former Soviet Union can be potentially and significantly minimized in a relatively short term. Objective factors, especially those concerning Russiaʼs declining role in the world economy and its reduced trade volumes with the CIS countries, on the contrary, are of a rather long-term nature and therefore it may take a considerable amount of time to adjust the current dynamics.

This article studies the interconnection of global and regional security systems using the example of the interaction of the United Nations (UN) with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). According to the author, their activity is underestimated. These organizations appeared in the wake of the emergence of a pool of regional associations of countries that have become involved in security and peacekeeping activities.Both associations have a similar composition of members, were established after the collapse of the USSR, are observers in the UN, are engaged in security as one of their key activities, and have similar functions. The CSTO and the SCO prevented new conflicts from breaking out in the post-Soviet space by acting as stabilizing forces within the borders of their regions and the participating states.This study's relevance is underscored first, by the special role that regional organizations play in building and operating a global security system; second, by the lack of existing research focused on the interaction of the UN with the CSTO and the SCO; and third, by the need to improve the collective mechanisms for responding to new security threats which become intertwined with existing challenges.The theory of military-political alliances provides the analytical basis of this research. The article uses quantitative and qualitative methods, including analysis of United Nations documents. The interconnection between the UN, SCO and CSTO is analyzed by counting the number of times the keywords "CSTO" and "SCO" appear in UN documents and defining the context of their use over a period of 15 (from 2002 to 2017) and 16 years (from 2001 to 2017) respectively. An extensive database of UN documents was available from the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBISNET). Based on this analysis, an assessment is made of the contribution and interest of the Russian Federation as a leading player in international relations in the process of strengthening the interconnection of global and regional security systems.

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