Criticism of Moscow’s primacy: Tajikistan’s president complains to Putin

Criticism of Moscow’s primacy
Tajikistan’s president complains to Putin

More than 30 years after the end of the Soviet Union, Russia continues to act as a regulatory power in the republics of Central Asia. But dissatisfaction is growing. Tajikistan’s President dismisses Kremlin boss Putin in front of running cameras.

At a summit between Russia and the five ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had to listen to criticism of Moscow’s priority, which he took for granted. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon said in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, that Russia should not ignore the interests of smaller countries as it did in Soviet times.

“Then and, excuse me, still today, the small republics, the small peoples, were ignored,” Rachmon said. Tradition and culture of the Central Asians were not respected. “There was no help, no support,” complained Tajikistan’s autocratic president. International economic forums have only been organized in Moscow, Minsk (Belarus), Kyiv (Ukraine) or Almaty (Kazakhstan). “For the other republics it was just: send milk, send cotton, send this and that!”.

Russia still sees itself as the power to regulate Central Asia. The countries there are economically, and in some cases also militarily, dependent on Moscow. At the same time, observers in the region interpreted the Tajik’s criticism as a sign of a gradual loss of power on the part of Putin and Russia because of the war against Ukraine. Because of the economic dependency, the Western sanctions against Russia also affect the Central Asian partner countries.

In addition to Tajikistan, the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan also abstained from voting in the UN General Assembly on outlawing the illegal annexations of Ukrainian territories. Turkmenistan did not take part in the voting.

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