Completely strategically contained, facing mounting defense costs, and embroiled in a ten-year long war in Afghanistan, Moscow was caught in a hornet's nest. The bureaucratic system had become stagnant, and the domestic economy was in decline.
果然，在全球性箝制的戰略佈局下，蘇聯的軍費負擔愈益沈重，長達十年的阿富汗戰爭更使得莫斯科如同踩在蜂窩裡難以脫身，老化的官僚結構積重難返，國內經濟則急遽惡化。