de facto states; Abkhazia; Nagorno-Karabakh; South Ossetia; Transnistria

This paper focuses on four currently existing de facto states in the post-Soviet area - Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Transnistria. These political entities have de facto separated from their mother countries (Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Moldova, respectively), however, they were not recognized or only partially recognized by the international community. As a result of this, they have limited access to the international system and are dependent on their patrons ? Russia and, in the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia. Whereas the relations between de facto states and their patrons, which provide de facto states with political, economic, military, technical, or moral support, are relatively explored, there is a lack of information about relations between individual de facto states. The suggested paper addresses the question whether post-Soviet de facto states maintain mutual relations, and if so, in which fields they cooperate and what the results of their cooperation are. Based on the field researches in Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Transnistria, the paper argues that relations between post-Soviet de facto states are mostly formal, and their institutional cover, the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations (also known as the Commonwealth of Unrecognized States), is in essence Russia?s tool for treating these specific political entities. The paper also reveals the motivations of de facto states? political leaders to (non-)cooperate with their counterparts, and brings attention to some cases of surprisingly independent behavior of respective de facto states, which in fact turns their cooperation against Russia?s interests.