The CIS territory has become a military-political battlefield of leading world forces, President of the Club of Military Commanders Gen. Anatoly Kulikov said at the Club meeting at the General Staff Academy.
"Apart from Russia, the United States who declared the whole world a sphere of its interests, the European Union, China, Turkey and Iran are struggling for the CIS," he said.
"Russia may remain the CIS leader or become a country surrounded by U.S. satellites. Everything will depend on Russian policy," Kulikov said.
"Russia should fully use its geopolitical potential, which is the largest in the world and exceeds that of the United States by 2.4-2.7 times" in order to ensure its interests in the CIS, President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems Leonid Ivashov said.
"We have the potential but we need to use it correctly. Otherwise, Russia may lose its positions," he noted.
If the most pessimistic trends prevail, Russia will lose its geopolitical role in the medium-term future and become ‘a prey of its neighbors’, Ivashov noted.
