Moscow Is Still Central Asia’s Top Security Ally

... ethnic or internal conflicts. Furthermore, in 2017 the CIS Anti-Terrorism Centre held its first military exercise in Tajikistan. The reason behind this CIS initiative was probably the desire to include, among others, the Uzbek personnel–given that Uzbekistan left the CSTO in 2012 [ v ]. The Russian presence in terms of military bases is mainly part of the Soviet heritage. Kazakhstan is the country with the largest number of diversified military facilities. Near Lake Balkhash lies the anti-ballistic missile testing range Sary Shagan leased by Russia, while in the southern part of the country Moscow will be able to use the ...