This section begins with Russia, the largest country in the region and the one that has dominated the entire region for many hundreds of years in what most scholars now recognize as a quasi-colonial manner. The post-Soviet states of Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine are discussed next because of their location and their close social, cultural, and economic associations with European Russia. The Caucasian states of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are then covered. Finally, the countries of Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—are discussed.