<P> The penetration of the Soviet influence into the "socialist - leaning countries" was also of the political and ideological kind: rather than getting hold on their economic riches, the Soviet Union pumped enormous amounts of "international assistance" into them in order to secure influence, eventually to the detriment of its own economy . After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Russia declared itself successor, it recognized $103 billion of Soviet foreign debt, while claiming $140 billion of Soviet assets abroad . </P> <P> Part of contemporary Russian nationalism considers the USSR to be a continuation of the Russian Empire and thus considers geographical and political expansion of the Soviet Union as continuation and further achievement of the Russian ethnos . </P> <P> The Soviet Empire is considered to have included the following: </P> <P> These countries were the closest allies of the Soviet Union . They were members of the Comecon, a Soviet - led economic community founded in 1949 . In addition, the ones located in Eastern Europe were also members of the Warsaw Pact . They were sometimes called the Eastern bloc in English and were widely viewed as Soviet satellite states . </P>

Map of communist countries during the cold war