Where is Ukraine? Where are NATO members? A guide to post-Soviet Eastern Europe

In launching an attack on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States and its Western allies of ignoring the Kremlin's demands to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO.

Ukraine has a long and complicated history in relation to Russia.

The Kremlin crafted its own narrative about Ukrainian identity to justify its interference in the country. In a speech Tuesday, Putin cast Ukraine as an artificial construct.

The dynamic is part of a broader struggle by Putin and his close allies to rebuild Russia's influence and global image.

"I think that he is dealing with what I believe he thinks is the most tragic thing that's happened to Mother Russia," President Joe Biden said in January during a news conference. "The Soviet Union has been split."

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 remade the world map and upended global politics. Fifteen countries were produced, and power shifted across Europe and Asia.

Here's what to know about the countries of the former Soviet Union, NATO and the Russia-Ukraine crisis:

What are the 15 former Soviet republics?

The former Soviet republics are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

What was the Warsaw Pact?

During the Cold War, the USSR (the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) founded its own military alliance, called the Warsaw Pact, in response to NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

The alliance included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Soviet Union.

All the Warsaw Pact countries – or the states that arose from their collapses – outside the USSR joined NATO, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, among others.

The post-Soviet countries have had divergent experiences in the post-Cold War world.

Russia evolves from Soviet Union

Russia, the core of the Soviet Union, suffered a severe economic decline after the collapse of the USSR. The country's economy still struggles to grow and is heavily dependent on fossil fuels.

Under Putin, Russia has sought to reconstitute its influence in former Soviet countries while silencing dissent at home.

Belarus close with Moscow

Belarus is the former Soviet state whose government is most aligned with Moscow in the post-Cold War era.

Its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, is often referred to as "Europe's last dictator." After a fraudulent election, the country experienced pro-democracy protests in 2020 that prompted a severe military crackdown and Russian intervention.

The pro-democracy movement and opposition leaders are in exile in the Baltic states, while journalists and activists opposed to Lukashenko have been jailed, brutalized and disappeared by the government.

Ukraine's history with Russia

Though Ukrainian leaders were initially close with Russia after the end of the Cold War, pro-democracy protests in 2014 ousted a Russian-friendly leader who was succeeded by a pro-Western interim government.

Since May 2019, its president has been Volodomyr Zelenskyy, a former television star and pro-democracy advocate from the country's Russian-speaking east.

In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine, annexing Crimea – a peninsula on the Black Sea in the nation's south – and supporting separatist groups in eastern Ukraine. That conflict has killed 14,000 people.

Moldova in conflict

The area that became Moldova was an independent country and a part of Romania before being conquered by the Soviet Union in 1940. The country remained culturally close to Romania during and after its time in the USSR and has drifted toward the European Union in recent years.

A breakaway province of the country, Transnistria, is the result of Soviet attempts to create a Moldovan culture more aligned with Russian identity. The breakaway region opposes the country's ethnic and linguistic ties to Romania.

In December 2020, Moldova elected Maia Sandu, a pro-Western woman, as its leader. Moscow has opposed Sandu's government and fomented tensions in Transnistria over the country's European tilt.

Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia

Russia has invaded or instigated conflict in three former Soviet countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia – over the past two decades. Putin has loomed large over Russian interference in the countries, though he was not officially leader of Russia during the Kremlin's invasion of Georgia in 2008.

Civil liberties organizations consider Armenia and Georgia democracies, but Azerbaijan has seen repression in recent years. The countries have suffered poor relations among themselves.

The countries are situated in the South Caucasus, a mountain range between the Black and Caspian seas.

Central Asian ex-Soviet republics

There are five former Soviet republics in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. All are ruled by authoritarian governments that have close ties to Moscow. They've experienced varying degrees of instability over the past two decades.

Kazakhstan experienced anti-government protests in late 2021 that prompted Russian intervention.

Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia: The Baltics

Three of the former Soviet republics, known as the Baltic states, have become members of NATO: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The three countries, Western-aligned democracies, border Russia and took a sharp turn away from the Kremlin since their incorporation into the military alliance.

What is NATO?

NATO, formally known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance founded in 1949 by the United States and its North American and European allies to assure mutual defense.

The members are Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The military alliance was founded as a way to deter Soviet aggression after the USSR invaded several Eastern European countries to impose authoritarian communism in the years after World War II.

What is NATO? Military alliance in spotlight as Russia tries to forbid Ukraine membership

NATO started with just 12 nations: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Article 10 of NATO's charter allows for an "open door policy," meaning any country that wants to join the alliance can apply and be considered for admission. The military bloc has grown to include 30 members as of 2022.

Follow Matthew Brown online @mrbrownsir.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Soviet Union's collapse formed 15 nations: A guide to Eastern Europe