Russian Policy in Central Asia: Supporting, Balancing, Coercing, or Imposing?

This article looks at Russian foreign policy in Central Asia, with a focus on security issues. It identifies the elements of support, balance, coercion, and imposition that affect relations with that region. Russia plays a game that, despite many difficulties, it wants to be a positive-sum game according to its interests in the area. By pursuing this analytical focus, the article questions whether the establishment of an enlarged security community involving Russia and the Central Asian states, beyond the non-functional Commonwealth of Independent States, could be envisaged. Russia faces a complex interplay of differentiated states in the area along with the involvement of external actors competing for influence, all of which complicate achievement of its interests.