On May 21, 2025, Russian presidential adviser Anton Kobyakov made a statement claiming that the Soviet Union had not legally ceased to exist due to violations of the dissolution procedure in 1991. He suggested that the Ukrainian crisis could be viewed as an "internal process" within the supposedly surviving USSR. Kobyakov called on constitutional law experts to evaluate his thesis, without specifying how this affects the sovereignty of former Soviet republics such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, etc. The statement sparked heated debates in expert circles and social networks.

Kobyakov, who oversees international forums in the presidential administration, cited the failure to comply with Soviet law when the Belovezh Accords were signed in December 1991. According to him, the lack of approval by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR makes the dissolution legally null and void.

"If the USSR is not dissolved, then the current conflicts, including the Ukrainian one, can be considered as internal processes," “he said, without explaining how this relates to the internationally recognized sovereignty of post-Soviet states.

Against the backdrop of the statement made, this caused a wave of indignation in neighboring countries, although official requests for clarification on this matter have not yet been received from the post-Soviet countries.