Uzbekistan is geopolitically strategic. Since the September 11 terrorist tragedy, Tashkent has served as the United States’ key strategic partner in Central Asia. There are indications, however, that the four-day bout of violence in Tashkent could hasten a move by President Islam Karimov’s administration to improve relations with Russia.
While Uzbekistan is likely to gladly accept US aid, there are indications that Karimov is growing disenchanted with the democratization rhetoric, even though US admonitions have thus far never been accompanied by specific action to compel Uzbek reforms. Even before the March 28-31 attacks, Karimov was expressing a desire for a rapprochement with Russia, which has tended to be far more forgiving on human rights/democratization issues than has the United States. The pro-government web site Uzland.uz published a commentary March 4 that said Russia’s presence in Uzbekistan was "not adequate."
"It is time to work out a strategic line which will ensure the full and systematic implementation of Russian interests in Uzbekistan," the commentary said. #msg-2763322
Along this strategic line Russia's Gazprom is to invest hundreds of millions in the Uzbek energy sector and Russia and Uzbekistan will discuss issues of stepping up the fight against international terrorism, all designed to form a deeper strategic relationship. -Am
Russia's Gazprom to invest hundreds of millions in Uzbek energy sector
By Aziz Nuritov ASSOCIATED PRESS 5:56 a.m. April 14, 2004
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan – Russian energy giant Gazprom will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the Uzbek natural gas industry as the two nations rekindle ties, a top Gazprom official said Wednesday.
Gazprom and Uzbekistan's state energy company Uzbekneftegaz signed a 15-year, $15 million deal Wednesday to modernize and develop the Shahpahti gas field in northwestern Karakalpakstan province.
The deal "is a first step toward a much bigger project where the volume of Gazprom investments will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars," said Aleksandr Medvedev, general director of Gazprom's Gazexport subsidiary.
The deal came the day before Uzbek President Islam Karimov was to travel to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The two leaders signed a partnership agreement last year to try to mend relations that were damaged when the Uzbek government spurned Russia after its 1991 independence from the collapsing Soviet Union.
Subsequently, Western investors stayed away when Karimov's government failed to institute economic and political reforms.
On Wednesday, Medvedev said he hoped that another multimillion-dollar deal would be signed soon. He said Gazprom by the end of the year plans to invest $31 million in exploration and development of gas fields in the Ustyurt region in western Uzbekistan.
The Shahpahti field, which was first explored in the 1970s, is estimated to still hold gas reserves of 272 billion cubic feet.
Gazprom said it hopes to sign a development deal at the Ustyurt fields for at least 45 years, with output of about 176.5 billion cubic feet annually, said Valery Gulev, general director of Gazprom's Zarubezhneftegaz subsidiary.
Russian companies have signed a raft of energy deals in Central Asia recently, as Moscow seeks to reassert its influence in the region that it considers its strategic backyard amid rising interest from other nations, such as China, Iran and the United States.
MOSCOW, April 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and Uzbekistan will discuss issues of stepping up the fight against international terrorism, at a meeting between the presidents of the two countries, Vladimir Putin and Islam Karimov.
The heads of the two states will discuss in Moscow on Thursday "ways of intensifying bilateral cooperation in this direction, given the recent terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan," a source in the Kremlin administration told Itar-Tass.
The presidents will also consider the process of establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the SCO's regional anti-terrorist center, as well as preparations for the SCO summit, due to take place in Tashkent in June.
"Russia and Uzbekistan will discuss within this context the coordination of their efforts aimed at the soonest turning of this organization into a significant factor of security and stability in Central Asia and beyond," the source said.
The official underlined that the meeting between Putin and Karimov shows a substantial Russian-Uzbek political dialogue, an important stage of a deeper strategic partnership between the two countries.
The Russian president's working visit to Uzbekistan in August 2003 lent considerable dynamics to bilateral cooperation, foremost in the trade and economic sphere.
At the talks on Thursday, the presidents are planning to discuss prospects for and practical issues of strengthening cooperation in the fuel and energy sector, including the implementation of large projects to develop hydrocarbon fields in Uzbekistan.
Kremlin sources said the parties would pay attention to the Russian-Uzbek cooperation within the context of joint efforts by the international community under the UN aegis regarding the post-conflict rebuilding of Afghanistan and the restoration of the economic infrastructure of this country.
Reports from Uzbekistan have said it attaches an important significance to Karimov's visit to Moscow, hoping that it will further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two states.
An Uzbek Foreign Ministry official said bilateral relations are "noted for their trusting character and pragmatism and a lack of fundamental contradictions."
Uzbekistan attaches special significance to economic cooperation with Russia. Two-way trade grows each year. According to the State Statistics Committee, trade turnover reached 1,200 million dollars last year, up 300 million from 2002.
Moscow strategists cannot fail to be alarmed by what the American media calls the "new military partnership" between Tashkent and Washington. [See the Eurasia Insight archives]. Around 1,000 US troops have already been deployed at Khanabad, an Uzbek military base 90 miles from the Afghan border, which was one of the main military outposts during the Soviet operations against Afghan mujahedeen in the 1980s. It is the first time ever that American servicemen have deployed on the territory of the former Soviet Union. Besides the US military presence in Uzbekistan, Russian media, citing well-informed sources in Tashkent, say that US B-52 bombers are flying from a base at Diego Garcia to carry out air raids on the Taliban targets in Afghanistan, then landing at Khanabad to refuel. After having some rest there, the American pilots then return to their base in the Indian Ocean. Some Russian commentators stress that by rendering such support, the Uzbek leadership is, in fact, cooperating with Washington not only in humanitarian and search-and-rescue operations but also "fully participating in the US strategic aviation's fulfillment of its combat mission." This aspect of the Uzbek-American military cooperation, Moscow journalists assert, is guarded as "top secret" by Tashkent authorities. http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:xFq4tpEmgiIJ:www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/5519-8.cfm+tashkent+mil...
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