Leo Tolstoy once said, happy is he who is happy at home.

It's a fitting quote that could apply to this larger-scale geopolitical disaster. The Russians that remained outside the border remained, not in their home, even if it was a place where they grew up and lived in. This also applies to places like Ukraine; 8-9 million Russians found themselves in a new entity called Ukraine - many of them grew up on a land that they once called Russia - but it was simply no more. To think that for the other ethnic groups like Tajiks and Uzbeks, this collapse would be seen as favourable conditions is also not the case; many of them were displaced and peoples' lives were ruined. Not to mention the collapse of living standards the ensued and has continued to exist in many ex-USSR countries that have not profited from any larger economic alliances; it's a state of stagnation.

To people that think it wasn't a geopolitical disaster, need not even take it from a Russian point of view; au contraire, it was a disaster of large proportions for millions.