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In the medium-long term, *stans might want to balance the relations between Russia and China (and a bit with the West) which might make further Russian invasions unlikely.
I've also been wondering recently if Georgia might see this war as an opportune moment to retake South Ossetia and Abkhazia, or if Moldova might attempt to reestablish control of Transnistria. With Russia underresourced and distracted there may not ever be a better time to do so. Note that I understand this is complex and that none of those three regions are officially 100% controlled and occupied by Russia the way Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk are, and that residents might not 100% desire to be "liberated" (I haven't spoken to anyone from those and don't follow opinion polling).
Much of the populace seems extremely unhappy about this, but it's an unstable situation in the wrong way that would lead to military action in that way.
In any case I genuinely feel for the Russian anti-war or opposition diaspora and don't hold bigoted anti-Russian positions like others on this thread might be showing. It's a complicated situation and indicative of the broader problems we'll see more and more of as empires and hegemonies built around domination of hydrocarbon exports become more volatile.
I am from Kazakhstan, and our government has been in a position similar to what they're experiencing in Georgia. Lots of paranoia about Putin trying to stir up something here. To slow down immigration, they implemented some new anti-immigration laws that aren't targeted specifically at Russian citizens (although it quite obvious to everyone bothering to observe), so they pretty much can't stay here for more than a few months. But I guess Georgia depends on migrant's money much more than we do, so they can't simply do the same.
Seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me - we should just allow Russians apply for EU/EEC country's visas outside Russia. If someone wants to not take part in a war, we should be making that easier for them as much as possible not harder or more dangerous :-/
[0] - I don't think it's easy but it's certainly a couple of levels easier than it is for those who left.
> Seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me - we should just allow Russians apply for EU/EEC country's visas outside Russia
I haven't seen this sentiment outside of the few remaining oppositional Russian news outlets yet. I guess politicians will do politicians' things, and chauvinism sells better than compassion.
I was trying to make sense of this sentence and only understood you were upset with me once I read my comment back. It looks like you’ve parsed what I said as “we should only issue visas to Russians who left” but I meant “we should simply issue visas who left”. The word “just” is overloaded and makes it a little ambiguous :)
I think only a really ignorant person would think someone who deserves to be punished because of their nationality or country of residence.
It makes sense; Kazakhstan is a huge country, can't be easily subdued by force, so diplomacy is the name of the game, and it pays to be "an expensive bride" to multiple suitors. Especially when accounting for Kazakh natural resources.