| near abroad | ближнее зарубежье (The other countries and political regions which are in the vicinity of a country or political region. Originally used to refer to the newly-established independent republics surrounding Russia after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, but now used to refer to other regions of the globe as well.: In his first term, George W. Bush was willing to give Putin a free hand in what Russia calls the near abroad, the states that spun off from the broken Soviet Union.
North Africa and the Middle East are, after all, Europe's near-abroad.
Japan has island disputes with all three of its neighbours, Russia, South Korea and China, leaving it diplomatically isolated in its near-abroad. Recent remarks by Medvedev about the lack of wisdom, in the context of the 2008 Georgia conflict, of unchecked Nato enlargement vividly illustrated Russia's visceral opposition to any interference in what used to be called its "near abroad" – and Putin's desire to roll back the western encroachments of the past 20 years. TG  wiktionary.org Alexander Demidov) |
