Russia's annexation of Crimea and the military operations in eastern Ukraine have overturned 
the post-Cold War norms that provided stability and development for the former Soviet--now 
sovereign--countries bordering Russia.This archetypal constellation of fac-
tors--a destabilizing conflict that halts democratic consolidation, the presence of an ethnic 
Russian population to justify intervention, strategic geopolitical location--has implications 
for other vulnerable areas along the periphery, such as Transdniester and western Kazakhstan.o Neighboring countries are recalculating their security and foreign policies through the lens of 
Ukraine, assessing their own security and conflict dynamics based on Russia's newly aggres-
sive policies and practices in Ukraine and the West's response.o The Georgia-Russia war in 2008 and the annexation of Crimea are emblematic conflicts and 
demonstrate a strategic pattern to Putin's interventions.