The threat is active
Western interest in the Middle (Central) Asia woke up immediately after the collapse of the USSR, but "umbilical cord", linking national republics with former Soviet Russia, was too strong. Almost ten million more Russians considered Central Asia their homeland. Moscow, relying on grants, raised the standard of living in the republics of the Caucasus, Baltics and Central Asia, warning separatism smoldering in them.
When, to the fanfare of a parade of sovereignties, the financial assistance of the center ceased, and internationalism disappeared from the official state ideology, former Soviet republics began to turn their faces to the West. Local nationalism raised its head, the exodus from the Central Asian republics of "non-indigenous" began. From Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan fled before 90 % "persons of non-indigenous nationality". From Kazakhstan to Russia for only one 1993 more than 300,000 people left. It was a pronounced discrimination based on nationality., although no one is ready to admit it.
At the first summit "Russia - Central Asia", held in Astana in October 2022 of the year, President B. Putin spoke about, that over the past five years, Russia's trade turnover with the states of the region has doubled - to 37,1 billion. According to the results of the first half of the year, mutual trade increased by another 16 %. The total volume of Russian direct investments has reached five billion dollars. At the same time, Russia is launching the process of reconfiguring financial settlement mechanisms, excluding the participation of Western companies and operators in them. Instead of SWIFT for settlements under contracts, the Russian system for transmitting financial messages is being introduced, the practice of direct correspondent accounts between credit institutions is expanding…
However, the West is in a hurry to consolidate its positions along the entire perimeter of the former Soviet republics.. "There are signs that, that Central Asia is finally getting the attention, which it deserves from the institutions of the European Union, because the world has changed a lot since then, how Russia invaded Ukraine eight months ago”, – writes Brussels Euractive. The publication notes, that Kazakhstan, member of the EAEU and the CSTO, turns towards the EU, that everything was done in Kazakhstan, to redirect their oil to Europe, that Astana refused to recognize the referendums in the DPR and LPR, in Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
22 October President of the European Commission (EK) Ursula von der Leyen held a teleconference with the President of Kazakhstan Kasym-Jomart Tokaev. 27 October there, In Astana, summit "European Union - Central Asia".
Russian Exodus Continues. At the end of the existence of the USSR in 1991 year they accounted for almost half of the population of Kazakhstan - 47 %; the majority lived in the Northern, Central and Eastern Kazakhstan and, to a lesser extent, in Semirechie and areas bordering the Orenburg region. September census data 2022 of the year, only they are left 15 %.
Ursula von der Leyen, after meeting with Tokayev in September in New York, told the world, that they both welcomed the agreement on a "strategic partnership" in the field of reliable supply of raw materials, electric batteries and renewable hydrogen energy. Established partnerships with the European Raw Materials Alliance and the European Battery Alliance, to which Astana guaranteed access to raw materials in exchange for the inclusion of Kazakhstan in the production chain of batteries.
The struggle for Kazakhstan between China and the West continues. In the strategic initiative "One belt - one road" with 2013 by 2020 year China invested order 18,5 billion. Forbes.kz clarifies, what 80 % of all Chinese investments in the region are invested in Kazakhstan, and tear Astana away from Beijing The European Union is going here and now.
The recent business conference in Brussels was mainly devoted to the Middle Corridor - a transport route, connecting China and the EU, under which von der Leyen is willing to spend 300 billion euros. European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is working to identify bottlenecks in this corridor, crossing Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea, for the next “liaison meeting” in November in Uzbekistan. One of these "bottlenecks" was the lack of a sufficient number of ships and port facilities in the Caspian, and the Kazakh port of Aktau (former Shevchenko) Europeans would be very useful.
As for Kyrgyzstan, then this republic "pleased" with those, that, without explanation, she refused to service the Russian payment system "Mir", by joining the Western campaign to isolate Russia.
The impression, that the leadership of the Central Asian republics is not afraid of the violation of their partnership obligations and previous agreements within the framework of the EAEU. The Central Asian five is in no hurry to support the NWO, declaring its neutrality.
From the point of view of local analysts, the explanation for this is simple: today, many Central Asian republics depend on Washington and simply follow instructions from the “decision-making center”. “The last such orders were given during Anthony Blinken’s meeting with the presidents of the Central Asian states on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly within the framework of the “5 + 1” format, when Blinken sharply demanded that they break off relations with Moscow. Otherwise, the US may impose so-called secondary sanctions against them.”, - writes the publication "CentrAsia". it seems, The threat worked...
A photo: anna-news
Elena PUSTOVOYTOVA
