Putin tours Central Asia

It is important to note that all three countries belong to the geopolitical area of Hinterland, which is also a part of the "Eurasian Balkans". This region is prone to destabilization which can be seen in the example of color revolutions in Kyrgyzstan and attempts to provoke such in Kazakhstan. At the same time, the Central Asian states are Russia’s partners on a number of projects (Kazakhstan itself was the initiator of the creation of the Eurasian Union) and are located in the zone of Moscow's national interests.

These factors are used by external forces to carry out their policies. China, in particular, has a constructive approach and is implementing the long-term initiative of the New Silk Road. The West, on the contrary, intends to magnify and exploit the differences between the interests of these countries, playing on very important issues such as the distribution of water resources, changes in political systems, drug trafficking, and radical Islam.