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I’ve read an article at the BusinessNewEurope written by Katya Malofeeva and Tim Brenton. The article was telling about Putin’s international legacy. And there was also a case about Russia’s influence in the region of Central Asia.

In Central Asia, Russia has had more success in building relations with the former republics, but a new great game has emerged in the region, largely focused on control of the area’s wealth of natural resource. The Russians remain on top of this struggle for influence, but are being forced to compete on a more level playing field with the US and China.

Most recently, the new theme of energy emerged in Russia’s dealings with other countries in the former Soviet Union. Russia is trying to defend its monopoly in distributing gas to world markets from Central Asia, and was a major opponent of the construction of the BTC pipeline, which bypasses Russia…

Russia is really beeing a major State in the world due to its own energy potential and the resources from Central Asia, especially Turkmenistan. As Russia has the greatest influence and role within Central Asian countries, former USSR republics.