The dissolution of the Soviet Union is still a sore point with many former Soviet citizens. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is trying to restore Russia’s former power.Putin has called the fall of the Soviet Union"the greatest geopolitical disaster of the century” and it seems he would like to reverse this chapter of history. Putin uses the giant energy concern Gazprom and Russia’s near-monopoly on natural gas in Europe to apply pressure in foreign policy. He has already done this with success in Ukraine. After the pro-Western Orange Revolution of 2004, democracy is now on the retreat in Ukraine. Putin has spoken of reuniting Belarus with Russia. And if a former Soviet republic seems too self-assured, as in the case of Georgia, then he sends in the tanks - as in the old days of the Soviet Union.