Russia, Central Asia and the Shanghai Co-operation Organization

Over the past three years, Russia's influence and presence in Central Asia has been steadily increasing. In contrast to the post 9/11 period, Russia has reasserted itself as one of the key players in the region, in some cases displacing the US, now associated with a democratization and regime-change agenda, as the key strategic partner to many Central Asian (CA) states. Moscow now conducts active regional diplomacy, has increased its investment in the region, provides economic and military assistance to CA states and, most importantly, has re-established close relations with the ruling elites in all of the region's states, presenting itself as a strong supporter of the existing political regimes. Russia's new strategic alliance with Uzbekistan, crafted following the Andijon crisis, as well as its close political and business ties with Kazakhstan, represent the backbone of the Kremlin's new Central Asia strategy. Russia's new activism is also visible in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and, most recently, post-Niyazov Turkmenistan. Despite having practically abandoned Central Asia in the 1990s, Russia has now made it a top foreign and security policy priority, not only within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but increasingly as part of its wider regional and global ambitions.