Russia is preparing to hold a second summit with Central Asian countries. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, speaking to students and teachers at MGIMO.
According to him, there is a struggle for influence in Central Asia between various global players.
Russia is working on holding the second summit meeting of the Russian Federation and five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) in the foreseeable future, the minister specified.
«There is, of course, the format that we created several years ago — Central Asia + Russia. The first summit and several ministerial meetings took place. Now we are preparing the second summit in the foreseeable future,» he added.
According to Sergei Lavrov, «we cannot forbid anyone — it is not in our rules and not in our principles: to develop relations with those partners who are ready for this, if the relevant country sees an advantage in this.»
«Yes, there is competition for Central Asia. There are formats like Central Asia + USA, Central Asia + European Union plus Germany, plus France, plus Japan, plus India, plus Korea, Iran, plus Turkey, many formats,» he recalled.
At the same time, in the opinion of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russia and five Central Asian countries have a complete mutual understanding that the obligations of the allies in the CSTO and the CIS «are not affected by the projects that other states offer them.»
«When our Central Asian partners and allies develop relations with the West, I have no doubt that the West is pursuing transparent and plausible goals here, but also wants to weaken the influence of the Russian Federation,» he added.
