While Russia’s relations with Ukraine made headlines, Moscow has steadily gained a foothold in another post-Soviet state – Kyrgyzstan.
In recent years Russia has written off half a billion dollars of the impoverished Central Asian country’s debt, pledged to supply the government with weapons and military equipment, and taken over its gas network.
State oil giants Rosneft and Gazprom, which have been the subject of new EU sanctions announced last week, have invested heavily in new energy projects in Kyrgyzstan in recent years.
Significantly, Russian influence led to the recent closure of the massive US Air Force Base Manas outside the capital, Bishkek, which marked the end of the American military presence in the region.
“Essentially, the conclusion of Manas marks Kyrgyzstan’s new era as a Russian customer state,” said Central Asian specialist Alexander Cooley, professor of political science at Columbia University’s Barnard College.
Manas was built in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks and served as the base for more than 5.3 million NATO troops serving in Afghanistan. It was officially closed in July 2014.
“The Kyrgyz side was under significant pressure from Moscow to close the facility,” said Cooley.
In 2009, under a mixture of pressure and economic stimulus from Russia, the Kyrgyz government first tried to drive the US out of Manas. The Americans agreed to increase the annual rent from $ 17.4 million to $ 60 million, and the base was allowed to stay.
But Russia became increasingly suspicious of foreign military presence in the region and increased the stakes.
“This time Moscow has effectively used a number of instruments of influence to assert itself as Kyrgyzstan’s most important foreign and security partner,” said Cooley.
US soldiers are preparing to travel to Afghanistan from Manas Air Force Base near Bishkek in 2011. Photo: Vyacheslav Oseledko / AFP / Getty Images
In August, Russia pledged $ 500 million in financial assistance to Kyrgyzstan to accelerate the integration of Kyrgyzstan into the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, an economic bloc that currently includes Belarus and Kazakhstan. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the funds would provide “maximum convenience” to Bishkek, but did not provide details of what the money will be used on. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said his country would join the Eurasian Economic Union by the end of the year.
Now that the foreign military presence has disappeared from Kyrgyzstan, “Russia will now assert itself as the country’s exclusive security patron,” said Cooley.
In 2012, Russia agreed to write off nearly $ 500 million in Kyrgyz debt in exchange for a 15-year lease extension for a Russian military airfield.
Moscow operates four military facilities in Kyrgyzstan, including the Kant Air Base near Bishkek, where 600 Russian soldiers and a number of fighter planes are stationed, and a naval test site on Lake Issyk Kul in the Tien Shan Mountains.
Russia has also pledged to provide $ 1.1 billion in arms and other military equipment to Kyrgyzstan as part of a bilateral armed forces aid program, according to RIA Novosti.
Experts say that with these measures, Putin is trying to restore the influence in the region that Russia lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia wields a lot of power over Kyrgyzstan, according to Alexei Malashenko, a Central Asian scholar and chairman of the Carnegie Moscow Center. “In my opinion, Kyrgyzstan is more controlled by Moscow than other Central Asian countries,” he said. Kyrgyzstan’s current President Almazbeck Atambaev “sees no alternative to Russia’s economic and political presence,” he added.
Protests against the government that led to the resignation of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in 2010. Photo: KPA / Zuma / Rex Features
The Kyrgyz gas infrastructure was brought completely under Russian control this year. Russia’s Gazprom symbolically paid $ 1 in July to take over the Kyrgyz natural gas network and promised to invest 20 billion rubles ($ 521 million) in upgrading its infrastructure over the first five years. With this deal, the Russian gas giant also took over Kyrgyzstan’s debt of around $ 40 million.
This month, Bishkek announced that Gazprom would begin exploring gas fields in Kyrgyzstan in late September. Other recent contracts include RusHydro, a Russian state energy company that has begun construction of a number of dams in Kyrgyzstan.
Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company, also signed a contract in February this year to invest up to USD 1 billion for a stake of at least 51% in Manas International Airport.
Last week the EU announced new sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis, including restrictions on Rosneft and Gazprom, which are now being prevented from raising capital in EU markets.
Kyrgyzstan shares many ethnic and cultural similarities with Russia. Almost a million Kyrgyz people are said to work abroad, most of them in Russia. According to the World Bank, their remittances account for 30% of the Kyrgyz GDP.
Kyrgyzstan is the only multi-party parliamentary democracy in Central Asia, but the political system is under pressure. Two presidents have been ousted by violent revolts since 2005.
Mirsuljan Namazaaly, a political economist in Bishkek and co-founder of the Central Asian Free Market Institute, said: “I wouldn’t say Kyrgyzstan is politically independent from Russia as many laws just copy the laws of Russia, presidents and Russia MPs always look on Russia and do what Russia can approve. “However, he stressed that the Kyrgyz people in general are not against Russia’s influence and that the Russian presence and support in their country is most preferred.
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