Of course, it is not very difficult to envisage the voluntary reincorporation of the ethnic Russian populations of Belarus, eastern Ukraine, and northern Kazakhstan into the Russian Federation – but only in a context in which Russia emerges as a true regional leader on a par with the EU. Alternatively (or coincidentally), Russia might discover a new business center of gravity in Central Asia and East Asia, though this would hardly be the “liberal empire” that Anatoli Chubais once envisaged, for it would be based on the mutual attraction of autocrats.
欧盟、美国以及中国给前苏联共和国机会来“平衡”俄国的影响力。当然，人们并不难以设想在白俄罗斯、东乌克兰以及北哈萨克斯坦的俄罗斯裔人口自愿重新返回俄罗斯联邦，但是这只会在俄国崛起成为与欧盟并驾齐驱的真正的地区领导国家的情况下才可以。或者(或者意外地)，俄国或许会在中亚和东亚发现一个新的商业重心，尽管这难以成为丘拜斯曾经设想的那种“自由化帝国”，因为是建立在独裁者之间的互相吸引之上。