Vladimir Paramonov & Oleg Stolpovski 
Russia in Central Asia [PDF ebook] 
Policy, Security and Economics

Times occur in the history of any country at which life itself forces it to make the decision to undertake a thorough review of its strategy. The main reason for this is the ever more obvious crisis in the Russian foreign strategy. The foundations of this strategy were laid immediately after the disintegration of the USSR, when the Yeltsin’s Russia started rapidly to shed the "burden" of the post-soviet republics. In many ways that’s why the period in Russian history which began with the disintegration of the Soviet Union will no doubt one day be described as a "Time of Troubles", like the one at the beginning of the 17th century, when the whole system of state power in Russia collapsed and Moscow’s position in the world became much weaker. Today Putin’s and Medvev’s Russia is once again having trouble finding its place in a rapidly-changing world. The analysis of the steps being taken by Russia in the Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan)in the areas of policy, security and economic is one of the best illustration of these.