Blinken eyes US inroads in Central Asia as Ukraine rattles nerves

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Central Asia hoping that greater US engagement will reassure former Soviet republics rattled by the Ukraine war.

Days after the anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the top US diplomat will hold talks on Tuesday in Kazakhstan and then Uzbekistan and meet jointly with foreign ministers of all five ex-Soviet Central Asian states in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.

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Donald Lu, the top US diplomat for South and Central Asia, said the United States was realistic that the five nations were not going to end their relationship with Russia.

“We have something to offer in terms of engagement economically, but we also have something to offer in terms of the values that we bring to the table,” Lu told reporters.

After a year of travelling the world to rally support for Ukraine, Blinken’s mission may be his most subtle yet. For the United States, “the sky is the limit in Central Asia right now,” said Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, an expert on the region at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the University of Pittsburgh.

“So I think there’s a real opportunity for the United States to be creative, to engage with the leaders of these countries and sort of meet them where they are.”