All this week, we are teaming up with our BBC sister podcasts to explore how power and influence around the world is shifting. We’re exploring which countries have a sphere of influence, and which countries are in someone else’s.

Today, we speak to Vitaly Shevchenko, co-host of Ukrainecast, about how Russia cultivates and controls its sphere of influence.

President Vladimir Putin has called the Soviet Union's collapse "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century. Since he came to power in 1999, Putin has tried to exercise influence over what he calls Russia’s ‘near abroad’: the former Soviet republics in its backyard.

Producers: Viv Jones and Xandra Ellin

Executive producer: Bridget Harney

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Vyacheslav Prokofyev/ Sputnik/ Reuters