The Biden administration took its push to isolate Russia into the heart of the former Soviet sphere of influence on Tuesday, with the top US diplomat meeting with Central Asian leaders to urge them not to help Russia evade sanctions imposed by the West over its invasion of Ukraine.
The diplomat, secretary of state Antony J. Blinken, opened a two-day visit to Central Asia by meeting the President of Kazakhstan and the country’s foreign minister, both of whom expressed a willingness to work with the US and a commitment to protecting their national sovereignty, an indication of wariness toward Russian aggression.
Blinken said at a news conference that the US was a committed partner of the Central Asian nations, and that “our support for their independence and sovereignty, their territorial integrity, is real.”
As it seeks to maintain pressure on Russia, the visit by Blinken highlights the Biden administration’s effort to make diplomatic inroads in Central Asia. The region is home to former Soviet republics over which Moscow, distracted by the war, may be losing its grip. But the administration faces a challenge in the region from China, the nearby superpower and ally of Russia that is increasingly at odds with the US over the war.
Last week, when China issued a proposal on how to resolve the war, Blinken described some of its provisions as unacceptable.
This week, Beijing angrily denied US accusations that it was considering providing weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine. And on Tuesday, the staunchly pro-Russian leader of Belarus, whose country Moscow used as a staging ground for its invasion last year, arrived in China for a three-day state visit that is a clear rebuke to the US and western allies.
One year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Biden administration has launched a flurry of diplomatic efforts to demonstrate solidarity with Kyiv.
Last week, President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital, and on Monday the treasury secretary, Janet L. Yellen, travelled to Kyiv to highlight the billions of dollars the US has sent to Ukraine to keep its government running amid the war.
Starting on Tuesday, Blinken was meeting one on one with counterparts from five Central Asian republics that broke away from the Soviet Union in its dying days: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. (The Uzbek foreign minister is in Astana for a group meeting with the officials, but Blinken will talk with him formally one on one on Wednesday in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, the secretary’s next stop.)
The former Soviet republics have strong ties to Moscow, but American officials have noted the sceptical remarks that some top Central Asian officials, including in Kazakhstan, have made about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and the invasion of Ukraine, another former Soviet republic.
In opening remarks before his meeting with Blinken in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, the Kazakh President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said: “I would like to express our appreciation to the continuous and firm support of the US for our independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty.”
Before Blinken arrived, US officials said that he would talk about Russia and the war with Kazakh leaders. Although the war was not mentioned explicitly in their opening remarks to reporters, Kazakh leaders are wary of potential Russian designs on their own nation.
“We stand ready to work closely on vital issues of global agenda, including energy, security and food crisis, climate change and economic connectivity,” Mukhtar Tileuberdi, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, said before his meeting with Blinken.
Speaking alongside him, Blinken alluded to concerns over Russia’s aggression, saying: “As you know well, the US strongly supports Kazakhstan’s sovereignty, its independence, territorial integrity. And sometimes we just say those words, but they actually have no meaning, and of course, we know in this particular time they have even more resonance.”
