Central Asia changing
The five former Soviet republics in Central Asia are changing. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are easily remembered by the mnemonic "KKTTU".
Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are rich in oil and gas. Kazakhstan also has metals and other precious chemicals, and being the 9th largest country by land area in the world, the chances are that there are more as yet undiscovered deposits of precious minerals.
The Russo-Ukrainian War has meant that Russia has less headspace to devote to the former Soviet states in Central Asia. Four of them abstained on the UN General Assembly resolution denouncing the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, except Turkmenistan, whose ambassador to the UN made sure he was out of the room when the vote was held. Russia has less money to buy Central Asian goods and fewer exports to offer for sale. Russian military hardware has not proven to be excellent in Ukraine. Central Asian countries used to buy the great bulk of their arms from Russia. Moreover, Russia needs all its weapons for itself and has very little to spare for export.
Nevertheless, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan are members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) which is a Russian-led military alliance. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The EAEU was touted as the former Soviet answer to the European Union. Founded in 2011, the EAEU is still very far from the free movement of goods, services and capital. Russia certainly does not want the free movement of unlimited numbers of people coming to reside in its territory despite its own demographic death spiral.
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