Putin’s Economic Push Revives Former Soviet Ties in East Europe

A quarter of a century ago, when the communist regimes in central and eastern Europe tumbled one after another, the economically devastated Soviet Union could do nothing but watch.

The USSR fell apart, and eastern Europeans rushed to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. In its former sphere of influence, instead of sending troops like it once did, Russia is now building a web of economic ties with its old satellites. Whether it’s bankrolling a Hungarian nuclear power plant or the South Stream pipeline in Bulgaria, Russian money is buying leverage in eastern Europe, Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its July 7 edition.