III International Conference “Managing Migrant Integration: The European and Russian Contexts” Comes to a Close

The conference was attended by over 100 leading Russian and foreign experts in migration, human capital and security, as well as members of the Russian executive authorities, international organizations, migrant communities, professional administrators and RIAC members. On September 21–22, 2017,...

Meeting up with Ambassador Peter Burian, Special Representative of the European Union for Central Asian Affairs

China and Central Asia: Growing Friendship at Russian Borders

... are typical. The application of these practices allows to employ Chinese productive capacities to a maximum extent, and the transfer of shares leads to a gradual increase of China’s economic presence in different economic areas in the countries of Central Asia. RIAC Report “Russian–Chinese Dialogue: The 2017 Model” The peculiarity of economic cooperation between Central Asia and China in the recent years is the correlation of the domestic economic development programs of these countries with Beijing’s strategy. This ...

European Union Interference in Central Asia: What Does It Mean for Russia and China?

... of China promoting its own standards developed by the National Development and Reform Commission in the document ‘Acton Plan for Harmonisation of Standards Along the Belt and Road (2015-2017)’ is interesting but should be closely coordinated with Russia and the Central Asian states themselves in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The Eurasian Economic Union is flexible enough to accommodate Chinese standards. The promotion of EU standards on the other hand is not relevant to the needs of ...

The Post-Soviet Space in 2017

... Asia and taking into account the peaceful transfer of power in Uzbekistan and the recent elections, we can predict that Tashkent will not intensify its ties with its neighbours and will attempt to implement peaceful policies towards them, as well as to Russia, which is, among other things, its largest security partner. Tensions between Central Asian states will likely decrease. They will want to resolve international conflicts by peaceful means, because the threat of fighters leaving to join Islamic State or extremist groups in Afghanistan remains. Yet Central Asian countries will handle ...

Roundtable “The former Soviet Union 25 Years after: Past, Present and the Future of Ex-republics”

... Belt, One Road creates conditions for the diversification of economies ex-Soviet countries. “The idea of creating Greater Eurasia, which will include China, former Soviet republics and EU countries is becoming more and more popular not only in Central Asia, but also in Russia” – Andrey Kazantsev said. Sergey Markedonov, Associate Professor, Department of Regional Studies and Foreign Policy, Russian State University for the Humanities, RIAC Expert , stressed that since the collapse of the Soviet Union nine ...

Post-Soviet Turkmenistan: A Little-Known Present and an Uncertain Future

... non-Turkmen population – largely concentrated in the capital Ashgabat – played a major role in the cultural and scientific life of the country and ensured the efficient running of government structures and the security forces. Just like in other Central Asian states, many Russians, Ukrainians, Jews and Tatars lived in Turkmenistan at the time. The country was known for having a large Armenian population. Before the Revolution of 1917, Turkmenistan was a separate Trans-Caspian Region of Russian Turkestan. It was closely ...

Prospects for Russian-Chinese Cooperation in Central Asia

... Paper #28 / 2016 The Working Paper is prepared by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) as part of the “Russia’s Interests in Central Asia” project. The goal of the publication is to outline the possibilities of cooperation between Russia and China in Central Asia by analyzing the interests of the two countries in relation to the interests of the Central Asian states themselves. The Paper also discusses risks and security challenges which are on the rise in the region and may impede the implementation ...

Talatbek Masadykov: The Negative Processes in Afghanistan Could Destabilize Central Asia

... Pakistan, very seriously, yet without interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. How real is the threat posed by Afghanistan for the EEU, given the fact that the borders with Kyrgyzstan are now open? The threat is very real. Some believe that Russia exaggerates this threat, because it is trying to strengthen its presence in the region and pull the Central Asian states back under its umbrella. In my opinion, this remark is somewhat unprofessional. As someone who has spent many years in Afghanistan, I think that Russia even understates these threats. In reality, the situation is very difficult. This ...

Russia and Afghanistan – We Should Be More than Military Partners

Russia is among few prominent players in the Central Asia due to the creation of EEU. However, not all countries in the region are involved in integrational processes. Afghanistan remains one of the key counties with solid capacity for regional development but the country has been struggling with ...