Article: https://eurasianet.org/russia-forges-ahead-with-gas-ambitions-in-uzbekistan-kazakhstan
Around this time last year, Russia had attempted to make a gas pact between Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. That attempt had failed. both Uzbekistan stated that they wouldn’t be involved politically in exchange for gas, and Kazakhstan said that they would not be used to go around sanctions. But this year, as of the past couple months, both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have signed new agreements with Gazprom, a powerful Russian gas company. The Kazakhstani and Uzbek governments have been vague about details, but a roadmap has been solidified that will connect all three countries. And as of right now, Kazakhstan imports gas to Russia.
I understand that Russia is trying to keep its regional power status, and get involved with surrounding countries not in Europe. Obviously, pretty much every country in Europe has implemented sanctions against Russia and cut off their gas supply. But central Asia hasn’t been affected, or have any relationship to Ukraine. It makes sense to go that route, but now that means Russia and China will be fighting for regional supremacy. Russian companies can sometimes be silmy, so I don’t know how this will go down in accordance to environmental or humanitarian terms, but there is talk of a union. So things shouldn’t be too bad. Overall, I don’t really have an opinion. It makes sense for Russia to look elsewhere after Ukraine, but I don’t see this causing major strife anywhere.
This article is related to class because two of the countries involved are in my assigned region, and the third is another international country. We’ve also been discussing Russia and energy a lot in class, so this article goes in accordance to our class discussions.