To search for appropriate examples of such politics, I would not go farther than east and south of the Russian Federation, where most of the countries, the former Soviet provinces, have entered a mixture of Stalinism and Asian despotism. But I would rather take a brief look westward at the front rank of Russian security concerns, and further, as far as Russian interests and influence extend. It is very important for Putin's Russia because of its energy and economic potential, but even more for being one of pillars of EurAsEC, the integration project that has helped Russia shape its regional agenda. The second pillar is Belarus, which remains “Europe's last dictatorship," as former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described it in 2006. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is probably not in Putin's good graces, but Putin stubbornly supports the repressive regime because the country is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Russia-led “defensive border” against further expansion of the EU and NATO. As its third pillar, Ukraine is currently in a civil war caused by the attempt of former President Viktor Yanukovych to break the security ring around Russia.