US Secretary of State in Kazakhstan

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 01 Mar 2023 by Alex Teddy
Antony Blinken held talks in Kazakhstan with President Tokayev. In Kazakhstan met the foreign ministers of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. He then flew to Uzbekistan.  The US does not want Central Asian countries to support Russia over Ukraine. All five of them abstained in the UN in votes on Ukraine. The US realizes that all five are economically integrated with Russia and three of them are part of a defensive military alliance called the CSTO headed by Russia. China is very influential in the region. China is Kazakhstan's main trade partner and has a military base in Tajikistan. The US wants to show that it cares about the region and has something to offer. It wants to reduce Central Asia's dependence on China and Russia. The region is keen to demonstrate that it has other options than China and Russia. However, it is difficult to trade with the US without goods going via Russia or China. Central Asians cannot afford to offend China and Russia. Millions of Central Asians are guest workers in Russia and to a lesser extent in China. The Russian economic slowdown has impacted Central Asia.  The US sees 2023 as a golden opportunity in Central Asian. Russia's influence is lower there than at any time since the end of the Soviet Union. However, there has been an influx of Russians fleeing conscription.  Kazakhstan is worried about its border with Russia which is indefensible. Russia outnumbers Kazakhstan 10:1. 20% of Kazakh citizens are ethnic Russians. Some Russian politicians have said that some regions of it should be in Russia. Tokayev recently spoke to Zelensky and urged him to talk with Russia with a view to ending the war. Uzbekistan and Turkmen...

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