The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union,[1] the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (Russian: бли́жнее зарубе́жье, romanized: blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that emerged and re-emerged from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics following its breakup in 1991, with Russia internationally recognized as the successor state to the Soviet Union after the Cold War.