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Were the Chechyns better off in the 1990s than they are now?
Were the Georgians better off in the 1990s than they are now?
How about the Ukraine?
davidual-
I am not convinced the economic collapse of the russian state (different from political change which is clearly needed) is a slam dunk for improving things and securing long term stability in those regions either
Look what happened as soon as it was clear the russian military was pre-occupied, you had conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh starting again
Collapse of the Soviet Union led to millions of excess deaths in the decade that followed, life expectancy slumped, the vulnerable suffered disproportionately and the oligarchs emerged facilitating huge power and wealth transfers, not sure how anyone can be sure that wouldn't play out the same again?
greentricky
How did that play out last time?