title: Introduction: Post-Soviet Conflict Potentials
abstract: The so-called post-Soviet space is often characterised as a region of high conflict potential—a ‘tinderbox’. Of course, this observation could spark a lengthy debate about the use, function and imaginary power of the term ‘post-Soviet’, which could express a continuum, path dependency or disconnection from the legacies of the collapsed Soviet Union. Moreover, having witnessed the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia's contentious involvement in both the escalation of violent conflicts in Donb