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Russia in Central Asia: Old History, New Challenges?

05/10/2009 By Marlène Laruelle

Russia is a power unlike others in Central Asia, given its role as the region’s former coloniser. This legacy has its positive and negative aspects: it has been positive insofar as it has involved a long period of Russo–Central Asian cohabitation that has given rise to a common feeling of belonging to the same ‘civilisation’; it has been negative insofar as it has accrued all the political resentment and cultural misinterpretations of the coloniser–colonised relationship. 

Russian–Central Asian relations are therefore complex, with each of the actors having a highly emotional perception of its relation to the other. This EUCAM working paper looks at Moscow’s two main concerns in the region, namely the economy - especially gas and oil exports from Central Asia - and security issues. The paper also discusses the prospects for collaboration between the EU and Russia in this region: how can the currently competitive mindset be turned into the atmosphere of cooperation that the Central Asian states actively call for?

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Keywords

Central Asia and Russia Energy Supply EU Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Russia Tajikistan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan

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Bio author: Marlène Laruelle

Central Asia. Russia. Afghanistan. Security. Development. Nationalism. Ethnic conflicts