Over the past two decades, Central Asia has been perceived as a "belt of instability". The events that took place in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the spring of 2005 may have marked the beginning of a crucial stage in the formation of a new political and, in the near future, economic configuration in the region. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the young post-Soviet states had many claims against each other, primarily economic and territorial. The result was a deterioration of political relations between them. The newly formed states were more interested in contacts with non-CIS countries than with their neighbors - the former republics of the USSR. One of the reasons for this situation is the desire to attract foreign investment for the development of their state. STABILITY - AT ANY COST Central Asia was not one of the priorities of Russian foreign policy in the 1990s. The only active area of cooperation between Russia and the states of the region during this period was cooperation in the field of security. The presence of such politically unstable states as Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and the possible confluence of their conflict-related potentials, threatened to create a vast "belt of instability"on Russia's southern borders. Russia deliberately assumed responsibility for maintaining stability in this region, although this role was quite difficult for Russia at that time. The Russian military presence could contain some conflicts, but it was unable to fully control or stop them. However, no one wanted or could share the burden of peacekeeping and border protection with Russia. Western countries were wary of being drawn into conflicts with unpredictable outcomes, including the military conflict in Tajikistan and regular attacks by militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Russia's loss of influence in Central Asia in the early 1990s led to a mass exodus of the non-indigenous (Russian) and partly indigenous population of the region. The course of maint ... Читать далее