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EASTWEEK
Weekly analytical newsletter on Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Caucasus and Central Asia (also available in Polish as Tydzień na Wschodzie)

Contents

No. 28(178) | 2009-08-31
Also available in PDF

Analyses

  • Russia's historical campaign

    A series of articles about the policies of the Soviet Union and certain European countries towards Hitler's Germany have appeared in the Russian electronic and paper media since June, and especially in late August in connection with the approaching seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. In these articles, Russian historians, political scientists and journalists, as well as high-ranking state officials and representatives of the secret services and the armed forces, presented arguments which largely repeated the clichés of Soviet historiography. They justified and positively assessed the USSR's policy in the late 1930s, and accused Poland, the Baltic States, Great Britain and Ukrainian nationalists of having supported Nazi Germany.

  • Tension escalates in the Northern Caucasus

    Violence has escalated in recent weeks in the eastern part of the Northern Caucasus, i.e. the region comprising Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. On 17 August in Nazran, Ingushetia, an attack against the local Interior Ministry headquarters took place, in which 25 people were killed and nearly 300 injured. In the second half of August, eight police officers were killed in three suicide attacks in the Chechen capital Grozny. In Dagestan, attacks against representatives of the institutions of force occur almost daily. Radical underground Islamic organisations are responsible for the current escalation of violence; however, the activities of the Russian institutions of force may also be responsible, as they have been seeking to destabilise the situation in the region in order to obtain additional powers in the fight against terrorism.

Events

 

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Uzbekistan develops closer co-operation with the USA
EASTWEEK

2009-08-31

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General David Petraeus, commander of the US Central Command, visited Uzbekistan on 18 August. As a result of his talks in Tashkent, the United States and Uzbekistan signed an agreement on military and technical co-operation. The USA's recently increased efforts to expand its military presence in Central Asia have been accompanied by Russia's pressure on the Central Asian republics to preserve Russian influence in the region. As a consequence, US/Russian rivalry in Central Asia may heighten in the near future.

The agreement lays down a programme of contacts in the defence sphere between the two states, and provides for the training of Uzbek military forces by the Americans. The signature of the agreement has triggered press speculations about alleged talks concerning the return of US troops to the Karshi-Khanabad base where American soldiers were stationed in the years 2001-2005. These reports, however, have been denied by the US. For Washington, the main objective in developing closer relations with Uzbekistan is to strengthen its military presence in the region and extend the Central Asian transport corridor to Afghanistan (the Americans have managed to keep the base in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, and gain access to the airfield in Navoi, Uzbekistan). Uzbekistan, for its part, seeks to step up its co-operation with the United States because its relations with Russia have been deteriorating systematically, and Tashkent is concerned about Russia's mounting pressure on the Central Asian states. The Uzbek authorities are particularly concerned about the plans to establish a Russian military base in Southern Kyrgyzstan, close to the Uzbek border. The objective behind the measures Russia has undertaken is primarily to strengthen its military presence in the region (Russia has little to offer to the Central Asian states in terms of economic co-operation). The intention is to intimidate the countries of the region and counterbalance the influence of the USA and China in Central Asia. The actions of the two states may lead to an escalation in tension between Russia and the United States in Central Asia. <mf>

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