Although Russia renounced communism and transformed itself into a democratic republic after the Cold War, Putin, the current leader, still leans more towards dictatorship and is considered an adversary by most Western countries. A military powerhouse in the traditional sense, Russia has the largest storage of nuclear weapons in the world with armed forces currently stationed in Eastern Ukraine, Armenia, South Ossetia, Eastern Africa, and Central Asian countries. Russia is a permanent member of the United Nations and extremely influential globally.