Abstract
Russian foreign policy, as it evolved in the Post-Soviet period or more precisely after the end of the Cold War, has experienced a marked shift in priorities often based on the exigencies as well as long-term needs. This has been revealed in the case of Russian policy towards Central Asia as well. As the title of the book under review suggests the post-Soviet engagements between Russia and the Central Asian republics owe much to the subtle changes in the regional geopolitics due to emergence of the five newly independent republics in the Central Asian region. However, initially, as the author who herself is an expert on Russian Studies has pointed out, there was a lack of clarity as well as direction in the Russian foreign policy due to the vacillations in Russian standpoint vis-à-vis the rise of nations in its neighbourhood. This was followed by a more positive Russian attention particularly towards the Central Asian region due to a number of events affecting the security scenario of the region which helped shape a firm policy to be pursued by Moscow. Right from the Tajik crises (1992) to the rise of Taliban in Afghanistan (1996) and the US-led War against Terror (2001) and more recent Colour Revolutions in the post-Soviet Republics of Georgia (2003), Ukraine (2004) and Kyrgyzstan (2005) played a major role in determining Russia’s approach towards the Central Asian region.
What one could find in the book is that the author traces the evolution of Russian foreign policy towards Central Asia from the era of Tsarist regime where military superiority was the instrument of claiming regional superiority to the post-disintegration era where Russia’s search for a global status pushed her to claim relevance in the immediate neighbourhood, the ‘Near Abroad’ or the Central Asian region. For a proper understanding of the core subject the book has been divided into five chapters in addition to Introduction. While introducing the subject, the author revisits the down fall of the former USSR from a position of being a super power to its subsequent realisation of staying relevant in the world arena of power struggle. Such realisation for seeking a new identity and a place of its own in the world arena has been discussed in length in the first chapter entitled ‘The Perspective: Russia’s Search for a New Status’. The author finds it prudent to highlight the fact that despite the disintegration of the USSR the status of Russia continues to be of importance and relevance in the global arena mainly due to the revival and reinterpretation of old concepts and doctrines. This led to the realisation that Russia can still command considerable power and influence in the post-Soviet space. This identity crisis ‘has as much been related to whether Russia is a European or Eurasian power, as to whether Russia is a regional or a global power’ (p. 7). The author has focused more on the latter question by projecting this interlinked and interdependent search for status as the perspective, against which Russia’s relationship with the Central Asian region has evolved and developed.
The second chapter entitled ‘The Context and the Process of Russia’s Engagements’ deliberate upon two themes: (a) challenges faced by the Central Asian states in the post-Soviet period in order to contextualise it for Russia’s involvement in the region, and (b) Russia’s engagement with the Central Asian states in order to clarify the shifts and trends in Russian foreign policy orientations towards the region. In terms of challenges faced by the Central Asian states in the post-Soviet period one could find in this chapter not only the economic dimension but also the security concerns such as terrorism and illegal trafficking of arms and narcotics that led to the Russian involvement in the region. Russian involvement was also due to the growing Chinese and western involvement in this geo-politico-strategic region for increasing their sphere of being in the phased manner in accordance with the demand of the day. A major shift took place under Putin when Moscow for the first time came to see the Central Asian states as its strategic partners that could ‘contribute substantially to Russia’s security on its southern flank, while protecting their own’ (p. 30). The period that followed has been witnessing a period of challenges for Russia to not only checkmating growing western moves in Central Asia but also engaging the region more effectively for its own benefit.
The post-Cold War perspective on Russia’s search for global significance as well as the evolution of politico-strategic relations between Russia and Central Asia have been dealt with in the third chapter entitled ‘Relationship in the Post-Cold War Era: Development of Bondings’. Security, energy and migration have been the three key spheres in which Russia has been successful to create and maintain interdependent relationship with the Central Asian republics (CARs). Russian relations with the CARs the post-Cold War era saw a new dimension in the field of security cooperation. The growth of terrorism, religious extremism and narcotics trafficking created a common ground for Russia and CARs to evolve a common strategic cooperation to deal with the challenges. A series of treaties/regional cooperation organisations to deal with security related issues were initiated by Russia such as, the 1992 Collective Security Treaty (CST) which was renamed as CST organisation in 2002, the 1995 Common Air Defence Treaty, and the 1996 Unified Anti-Taliban Coalition. In addition, Russia jointly initiated with China the Shanghai-5 which was renamed as Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in 2000. Russia also joined the Kazakhstan initiated Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA) in 1994 which held its first summit in 2002. All these pledged to avoid military action against member states and to jointly defend external aggression.
Russian awareness of energy and subsequently of the same by CARs saw growth of international partnership with major oil companies which led to development of oil exploration and transportation facilities. Russia shared a space with CARs in the field of developing energy potential of the region. Meanwhile, bilateral energy agreements entered into by CARs with Russia signify their strive to gain self-reliance and also to break free from any extraneous influences. This is seen as a major victory for Russian policy makers as Russian prominence on Caspian Sea was also acknowledged. On the issue of bonding of migration, the author clearly highlights the fact that the economic capacity as well as the demographic need of Russia to absorb the migrant labour force from CARs and the effects of remittances of these labours on their countries has created a unique interdependency. The soft and accommodative approach of Russia saw the absorption of over 10 million people in Russia as migrants and asylum seekers during 1990–2003. The resultant growth in economy was phenomenal as during 1999–2003 the economy in Russia registered 22 per cent growth, thus pointing to a strong bond of interdependence between Russia and the CARs, which still continues.
The fourth chapter entitled ‘Foreign Policy Options for the Central Asian States: Challenges for Russia’ provides an account of the trajectory of the foreign policy orientations of the CARs which indicates that there are limits to Russia’s advantages in this space. The author’s analysis clearly shows that for the first time, the CARs have got the opportunity of choice, that is, to choose foreign policy options of their own and that is the most important trend in the post-Soviet period. The whole discussion in this chapter focuses on finding out the CARs’ foreign policy implications for Russia in the light of extent and range of involvement of other powers in the region which reveals that Russia has limitations in manoeuvrability and employing strategic leverages, particularly in energy and security spheres. That puts effective constraints on Russia’s geo-strategic ambitions in the Central Asian region.
The fifth and the last chapter concludes the main theme of the book by pointing out that in the post-Soviet period Russia does have the need and desire to become and stay as the single significant power in the Central Asian region. However, as it is a ‘post-imperial power’, rather than a ‘neo-imperial power’ (p. 119), the author argues that Russia employs the strategy of developing bonds of interdependency and of engagements with CARs in those areas where it still practices comparative strategic advantages. This is a much more effective strategy for Russia as it is less hegemonic in nature and has long-term implications. Such strategy has been working positively in developing a post-Soviet relationship with Central Asia in all areas of mutual concerns.
The book, therefore, is an extensive work undertaken by the author who includes minute details with lot of references and explanations to understand the entire scenario of Russia–Central Asia relations in the post-Cold War period. The book could prove to be useful for not only researchers and scholars of Russian and Central Asian Studies but also others interested in getting acquainted with the foreign policies of Russia and the Central Asian Republics in the post-Cold War geostrategic environment.