Russia's Imperial Ambitions in Central Asia Continue Unabated
By Laura Linderman
Russia's strategic maneuvering in Central Asia warrants greater attention from foreign policy analysts. The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute’s newly released piece by Professor Farkhad Tolipov, “Russia's Central Asian Underbelly: The Case of Uzbekistan,” examines how Moscow continues to exercise control over what it still views as its imperial domain.
One passage particularly stands out: “Russia has managed to perfectly demonstrate a master class one could call ‘how to make an enemy out of a friend.’ None of the Central Asian countries gave any pretext to Russia for suspecting them of anti-Russian policies. Moscow, however, is obsessed with the phantasm of the enemy. It creates an enemy where the enemy does not exist.”
Tolipov's research reveals how Russia employs what he terms “gray power” - a sophisticated toolkit of propaganda, economic leverage, and veiled threats that sits somewhere between soft and hard power. As he notes, these are not benign cultural influences but rather “a byproduct of hard power” aimed at maintaining control over former Soviet states.
The implications of this analysis are not to be understated. While the world's attention remains fixed on Ukraine, Russia continues to assert what Tolipov calls “its own version of the Monroe Doctrine” in Central Asia, treating the region as “the last bastion of Russian imperialism.”
We believe this analysis deserves careful attention from policymakers and scholars alike. You can read the full piece here.
As always, we welcome your thoughts and responses to this important work.
Laura Linderman is Director of Programs and Senior Fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute of the American Foreign Policy Council