Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Sternik said that "even a hint" from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan to curtail relations with Russia would come at a cost to them.
The chief of the third department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Sternik, said that "strategic patience" was the basis of Moscow's policy course towards the partners in Central Asia, on which "practical actions" were built. He said this when answering a question from Kommersant about Moscow's reaction to the "ambiguous" actions of the countries of the region, such as compliance with anti-Russian sanctions.
“We evaluate the actions of all players primarily from the angle of causing or not causing damage to Russian interests. And we draw adequate conclusions from this, including jointly with partners who are vitally interested in not losing these multifaceted ties with the Russian Federation. Even a hint of their curtailment can turn into such economic costs that no promises of compensation from their masters can cover, ”Sternik said.
During his speech, Alexander Sternik also stated that in international organizations with the participation of Russia, such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, there is no “stick discipline”, which, according to the diplomat, “is characteristic of associations in other regions of the world.”
“If we see that the position of country A does not converge with the position of country B, we would rather take the position of a moderator than take side A or B,” the diplomat assured, mentioning that this principle was applied both in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia.
He also noted that Russia was calm about the initiatives of the countries of the region to launch new transport corridors, for example, through the Caspian Sea.
“The search for new access to world markets is the sovereign right of any country,” he said.
Sternik attended the conference "Central Asia and the Ukrainian Crisis" at the Valdai International Discussion Club.
Director of the Information and Analytical Center for the Study of Socio-Political Processes in the Post-Soviet Space, Daria Chizhova, who presented her report on the consequences of the events of 2022 for the countries of Central Asia at the conference, also stated that there could be no strict regulation in the issue of Russia's reaction to the actions of partners ".
“Minimizing the consequences of sanctions against Russia for the countries of Central Asia became possible precisely because we had flexible work at all levels. This allows our relations to correspond to the spirit of the time,” Chizhova said.
