By at least early December 1991, it was clear that the days of the Soviet Union were numbered. Under a series of agreements in December the fifteen new states agreed to mutually recognise each other, and the international community was not far behind in accepting their legitimacy and establishing diplomatic ties. Some delays were caused by outstanding territorial claims between the new states, while a number of international organisations and governments hesitated as a result of the experience in the former Yugoslav states, where the readiness of Western governments to welcome the new formations without qualification may have contributed to ethnic violence. International recognition also opened the door to aid and advice: the two were frequently linked as governments sought to reproduce the economic transition from communism that had already taken place in Eastern Europe. While many of the new governments were eager to attract international support, more important were the internal dynamics of political development which varied substantially from country to country. Popular fronts had been at the forefront of the movements for independence, but the distinction between their members and communists was often blurred. Thus the extent to which the new leaderships represented a break with the past varied enormously. Each of the post-Soviet states inherited key elements of a national infrastructure from the Soviet period, but what could be built on top of this infrastructure in terms of a new, independent state-based national identity was up for grabs. Early political contests, which in some cases turned violent, were therefore key in determining future developments.