U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a two-day visit to Central Asia after meeting the leaders of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
He also met with his counterparts from the C5+1 group of nations, which comprises Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and the United States.
Blinken’s visit was widely seen as an effort to woo Central Asian leaders away from Moscow, which views the region as falling within its traditional sphere of influence.
During his visit, Blinken repeatedly stressed Washington’s commitment to the “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” of the five Central Asian states.
On Feb. 28, he held talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana.
During the meeting, Blinken emphasized the United States’ “unwavering commitment to Kazakhstan’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity,” according to a statement released by the State Department.
He also stressed Washington’s “full support for the aims of President Tokayev’s reform agenda” and the U.S. commitment “to working with government, civil society, and other Kazakh partners to advance the values shared by our two countries.”
The following day, Blinken met Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Tashkent, to whom he likewise declared U.S. support for Uzbekistan’s “sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity.”
He commended Uzbekistan’s “regional leadership, especially through engaging in the C5+1 diplomatic format,” according to the State Department.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Blinken drew a distinction between U.S. foreign policy and that of Moscow, whose invasion of Ukraine had, he claimed, “fostered deep concern across the region.”
“If a powerful country is willing to try to erase the borders of a sovereign neighbor by force, what’s to stop it from doing the same to others?” he asked.
Committed to Neutrality
The Central Asian region has historically been seen as Russia’s “backyard.” Like Ukraine, all five Central Asian states were Soviet republics before the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991.Although the Central Asian states maintain close ties with post-Soviet Russia, none of them has publicly endorsed Moscow’s year-old “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Nor, however, have they condemned it.
In a U.N. General Assembly vote in February, timed to coincide with the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, all five Central Asian states abstained on a draft resolution condemning Russian actions in Ukraine.
At a joint press conference with Blinken on Feb. 28, Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi thanked the United States for backing his country’s right to self-determination.
He added, however, that Kazakhstan was intent on pursuing a “balanced multilateral foreign policy” and would continue to act in its national interest given the “complex international situation.”
Stressing his country’s longstanding ties with both Russia and Ukraine, Tileuberdi said that Astana wouldn’t let its territory be used for either Russian aggression or the evasion of Western-led sanctions.
Nevertheless, he added, Kazakhstan didn’t perceive any threats from its formidable northern neighbor, with which it shares a 4,750-mile border.
Early last year, Russia sent troops to Kazakhstan to help quell violent protests—ostensibly triggered by rising fuel prices—in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
The deployments were carried out within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-led military alliance that also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
Russian officials allege that last year’s violent protests in Kazakhstan were a Western attempt to foment a “color revolution” aimed at destabilizing Tokayev’s government.
Eurasian Solidarity
Asked whether Blinken’s statements were likely to affect relations between Moscow and Astana, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov replied in the negative.“We value our relations,” Peskov told Russia’s TASS news agency on March 1. “We are also united by our participation in joint projects.”
He went on to say there were “positive dynamics in the further development of these ties.”
Asked a similar question a day earlier, Peskov said Moscow has “its own cooperation platforms” with the countries of Central Asia.
“We take part in integration processes within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which is what we are guided by, what we are interested in, and what we view as our key foreign policy priority,” he added.
Established in 2014, the EEU is an economic union of several Eurasian post-Soviet states. In addition to Russia, its current members include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Belarus.
With the exception of Turkmenistan, the Central Asian states are also members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a formidable bloc of Eurasian states.
The SCO was first launched by Moscow and Beijing in 2001 with the stated aim of countering Western influence in the region.
After departing Tashkent, Blinken flew to New Delhi to take part in a scheduled meeting of G-20 foreign ministers, where the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is expected to top the agenda.
