... building up contacts with Tajikistan while simultaneously controlling its foreign trade with its key partner, the U.S. wants to limit Tajikistan’s bilateral relations with Russia.
Finally, as a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Tajikistan intends to view this organization as a resource in case Dushanbe loses control of the situation in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). January 2022 set a precedent of resorting to the CSTO’s forces in Kazakhstan to protect a member ...
... opportunities of intervention, like during the 2010 Osh protests in Kyrgyzstan. Member states have, in fact, been reluctant to intervene in 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 ...