The first half of the 1990s saw significant developments in the former Soviet and East European region: the attempted coup of August 1991 against Mikhail Gorbachev, the dissolution of the union, and the subsequent struggle in the 15 newly independent former republics to bring about significant social and economic change. There has been armed conflict in a series of these republics. In Russia there has been an armed attack on the parliament and its dissolution at the behest of the president, two national elections, simmering tension with a number of its neighbours, and continuing concern over the effects of economic reform, culminating in the December 1995 electoral success of the communist party. In Eastern Europe countries have been struggling with the legacy left by the communist regimes that collapsed in 1989. In a number of these countries communists returned to power via the ballot box. And, of course, the region was overshadowed by the breakup of Yugoslavia and the subsequent wars of Yugoslav succession. Despite this record of dramatic and important developments, this region has been of less concern to Australian foreign-policy makers than was the case during the Cold War.