In a May 17 interview on Tsargard TV, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was asked by the interviewer about Russia’s special interests in Central Asia, or what is called the “post-Soviet space.” This is the region, the interviewer noted, in which U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken “makes no secret…that they will escalate the situation…. Escalate the anti-Russia forces.” But, the interviewer asks, would any of those countries move in the direction of engaging in anti-Russia actions?
Many of these countries are participating in China-Central Asia summit in Xian today, and Western warmongers and geopoliticians insist that Russia has been outflanked by China and is nothing more than a “vassal state” of China, a “nation in decline,” etc. (see separate item).
The reality, Lavrov points out, is that “our closest allies” in the region say they’ve been put in a very uncomfortable position. “They find themselves caught in the crossfire.” While the Russian Federation, the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union) and the CIS “account for the lion’s share of economic ties,” he observes that the West’s share in the economy of Central Asia and the South Caucasus is growing, and “the West methodically and cynically demands that they refrain from taking steps contrary to [the West’s] interest, promising them everything under the sun, although in reality it only means interference in internal affairs.”
