Geopolitical Legacy of the USSR’s Defeat in the Cold War and Its Reflection in the Special Military Operation

The article delves into the analysis of the influence of the USSR’s geopolitical defeat in the Cold War on the origin and dynamics of the special military operation initiated in 2022. The relevance of the topic is determined by the fact that it is precisely the underestimated consequences of the events of 1991 that shape today’s conflict architecture and the limits of global governance. The novelty of this work lies in its interdisciplinary synthesis: two phases of the Cold War are compared, the legal basis for self-defense is revealed, mobilization practices are investigated, and macroeconomic shifts in global flows are assessed. The mechanisms of sanctions and information pressure are described; the internal mobilization of Russia and the transformation of energy and logistics chains are studied; particular attention is paid to the asymmetry of the parties’ volitional potentials and the paradoxical effect of sanctions. The aim of the study is to demonstrate how the defeat of the USSR is turning into a resource for sovereign modernization. To achieve this, the comparative historical method, content analysis, secondary statistics and case study are used. The works of A. V. Danchevskaya, N. I. Maslakova-Klauberg, S. M. Rogov, R. F. Latypov, I. N. Kuksin et al. are examined. Conclusions are formulated on the transition of the world system to polycentrism and the possibilities for Russia to institutionalize an alternative security infrastructure.