After a war in the late 1980s and early 90s, when the region’s majority Armenian population sought to secede from the newly independent country of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh was hotly contested by the two former Soviet republics.

Source: https://thenewtoday.gd/defeated-by-force-he-announced-the-dissolution-of-nagorno-karabakh/

China doesn’t have that sort of chess tradition as compared to the USSR, and now Russia, and some other former Soviet republics like Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/chess/ian-nepomniachtchi-made-it-clear-by-the-8th-move-he-was-playing-impotent-and-unambitious-position/

Russia as well as the other former Soviet republics use Russian gauge, a carryover from the Russian Empire.

Source: https://jalopnik.com/north-korea-s-weird-bulletproof-state-train-makes-first-1850829605

The lack of imports from EU countries resulted in an increase in imports through third countries, including former Soviet republics, as well as Turkey.

Source: https://worldcrunch.com/focus/putin-military-investigation