Central Asia Feels the Reverberations of the Ukraine Crisis

As the competition between Russia and the West continues to affect Ukraine and Moldova, the Central Asian nations have also started to feel its significant, though nuanced, effects. Central Asia is outside of the predominant theater for Russian-Western tensions (Eastern Europe and the Caucasus), but the standoff is still influencing the region. The relationships between the Central Asian states and Russia, however, vary greatly, and each state will continue to react differently, deepening existing foreign policy divisions.