Vladimir Paramonov and Oleg Stolpovski: Russia and Central Asia: Bilateral Cooperation in the Defence SectorНазад
Vladimir Paramonov and Oleg Stolpovski: Russia and Central Asia: Bilateral Cooperation in the Defence Sector
Key Points
* One of Moscow`s top priorities has been to maintain its key role in the former Soviet space, including Central Asia. Achievement of this strategic objective is directly related to developing military cooperation. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the development of a new approach by Russia to defence cooperation with Central Asia, along with defining the role of Central Asia within a system of national interests, has been rather slow and tortuous.
* In the 1990s, although relationships between Russia and the states of the region were supposed to be on the basis of partnerships, there was not much military cooperation between them, mainly because of political and economic factors within Russia itself. The Central Asian countries attracted the interest of a number of other military powers, especially the USA, the NATO countries and China. This in turn weakened Russia`s position in the region, and its military presence there reduced considerably.
* By the mid-1990s, however, it had become clear that if Russia attempted to disengage from the region, this would only encourage trends there which would not be in Russia`s interests. In the worst case, serious instabilities could lead to the fall of the existing secular regimes and to international conflicts directly threatening Russia`s interests.
* In the late 1990s there were some signs of a revival of Russia`s interest in the region, and Russia`s approach became more consistent and coherent. This was largely due to the following factors: the deteriorating military and political situation on the southern borders of the CIS, notably in Afghanistan; a rapid growth in activity by Islamist organisations, stirred up from Afghanistan, and including armed incursions in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan; and the strengthening position in the region of foreign powers, especially the USA and NATO countries.
* When a new generation of politicians came to power in the Kremlin, headed by Vladimir Putin, it became possible for Russia to embark on a revival of cooperation. That is was done on the basis of strengthening bilateral military ties was characteristic of his team.
* The present defence relationships between Russia and the individual countries of Central Asia are generally characterised by mutual trust. This avoids the international squabbles and ambitions which come to the fore in more multilateral contexts. Furthermore, bilateral cooperation includes more specific and practical forms of interaction. These are detailed in this paper.
