Central Asia crucial in Ukraine’s imperial chimera battle
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- 25 Apr 2023
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Friends and relatives visit the grave of a Ukrainian serviceperson at the Kryvyi Rih cemetery in eastern Ukraine, April 23, 2023. (AP Photo)
BY ANDRIY YERMAK APR 24, 2023 3:01 PM
There is much more in common between Ukraine and the states of Central Asia than it seems. As Kyiv is fighting the imperial chimera, staying away is not an option for Central Asia
Russian aggression against Ukraine did not simply break the rule-based world order established after World War II. The invasion became another step in an attempt to get international relations back to the 19th century, to the times of the Vienna system, when Russia employed the right of conquest to become the leading "conductor" of the "Concert of Europe" and successfully played the "great game" in Central Asia.
The north-south dividing line passing through the northern Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and abutting the Altai, remains critical to the implementation of the Kremlin's plans even now. Strictly speaking, it has been a pillar of Russian imperial policy. However, for the nations that resumed their independent state-building after the Soviet Union dismantling, Russia lost its appeal as a regional center of gravity. Not least because it failed – did not try, actually – to offer its neighbors any integration project that would provide for an equal partnership and prevent Russia from gaining the position of the primary, or even the only beneficiary. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) – all these formats of multilateral cooperation in their current form are aimed at preserving this exclusivity.
However, for the Central Asian states, historically, multi-vectoring is a natural way of communicating with the outside world. Ukraine also aspired to be a multi-vector – until Russia's imperial swagger forced it to make a final choice.
Not only Ukrainians face Moscow's territorial claims as revenge for the lack of piety towards its ambitions. Both the former and the latter are known perfectly well to our friends in Kazakhstan. Both Ukrainians and Uzbeks experienced gas blackmail in dead of winter. Besides Kyiv, Bishkek is perfectly aware of the bad odds to get the Kremlin's proteges extradited and tried. In both Dushanbe and Ukrainian Crimea, they know what a powerful tool of pressure the Russian military base may be. Read More…
