Anthony Blinken travels to Central Asia to reinforce the US strategic presence.

Statement by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken central Asia in the hope that greater U.S. involvement will appease the war-torn former Soviet republics in Ukraine, although the historical impact Russia limits the scope of cooperation.

A few days after the first anniversary of the invasion of UkraineThe head of US diplomacy will hold talks Tuesday in Kazakhstan and then in Uzbekistan, and will meet with the foreign ministers of five former Soviet Central Asian states in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital.

Donald Lu, the US diplomat in charge of South and Central Asia, said the US is realistic that the five countries will not sever ties with Russia or China, another neighboring power that is building up its presence.

However, he said Blinken would show that the United States is a “reliable partner” and different from Moscow and Beijing.

“We have a lot to offer in terms of financial commitment and also in terms of the values ​​we offer,” Lu told reporters.

After a year of traveling the world campaigning for Ukraine, Blinken’s mission this time may be the thinnest one.

Diplomats and experts say leaders central Asia they are walking a tightrope because of the formal security agreements they have with Moscow and Russia’s overwhelming economic and security influence, including as a destination country for their workers.

Five states either abstained or did not vote at the UN General Assembly on Thursday, which demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

For the United States, “the sky is the limit in central Asia right now,” says Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, a regional expert at the think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the University of Pittsburgh.

“The leaders of these nations have a real desire to get away from Russia. I think they understand that Russia is a threat to them, although geographically they can do little about it, and their economic situation does not allow them a lot of choice, ”he explains.

“So I think there is a real opportunity for the United States to get creative, to talk to the leaders of these countries and sort of meet them where they are.”

difficult pose

Kazakhstan, the country with which Russia he has the longest border, he has the most difficult relationship with Moscow. It is wary of the rights of its large ethnic Russian minority, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed to Ukraine’s treatment of Russian speakers as one of its justifications for the invasion.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who will meet with Blinken, traveled to Putin last year and reaffirmed his partnership with Russia.

However, he recently spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and called for a negotiated end to the conflict based on international law. In addition, Kazakhstan has received tens of thousands of Russians fleeing military service.

A month before the invasion UkraineTokayev called on Russian-led forces to help regain control after the unrest in his country, but quickly asked them to back down in the face of public opposition.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon rose to prominence in October when a video publicly berating Putin during a regional meeting went viral, accusing Russia of ignoring Central Asian interests.

The United States has seen signs of hope in the area of ​​human rights, a longstanding problem in a region historically ruled by authoritarian governments.

Lu spoke about the recent conviction in Kazakhstan of police officers accused of torturing during protests last year, as well as Uzbekistan’s abolition of forced child labor on cotton farms.

“This is really quite remarkable. I don’t know if we have seen such rapid parallel progress anywhere in the world,” the diplomat stressed.

Treated as a “tributary”?

war in Ukraine This is not the first international crisis to shift the focus to Central Asia.

Uzbekistan played a leading role in supporting the US military in their war in Afghanistan, which US President Joe Biden ended in 2021.

In 2020, during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s most recent visit to the region, he urged Central Asian countries to cut their ties with Beijing over human rights concerns in Xinjiang.

Professor Murtazashvili says the US was wrong to view Central Asia as a foreign policy “failure” and that it is better to use a strategy that values ​​the autonomy of its leaders.

“These countries are actually in a very interesting position to serve as a balance between Russia and China, and many of them have done it with remarkable skill,” he added.

(According to AFP)