Azerbaijan, Baku, August 26 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
Since it gained independence Uzbekistan has conducted a policy whose course is like a sine graph. But Tashkent has been drifting toward the West for the last year and a half, Russian expert on the CIS and Central Asia, Leonid Gusev, said.
"During its years of independence, Uzbekistan has conducted a policy that I would call "sinusoid", Gusev told Trend by e-mail. But Uzbekistan began to drift towards the West in the last year and a half.
Representatives of the Uzbek law enforcement agencies have not participated in the joint training of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) launched on August 26. It is being held in three stages, in the territories of Russia, Belarussia and Kazakhstan
However, Uzbekistan does not refuse to participate in the organization. Exercises are being conducted under the auspices of the organization. One of the dominant countries in the organization is Russia.
Tashkent's refusal to participate in the exercises is connected with a change in its foreign policy's vector towards the West, the expert said.
Uzbekistan has received political and financial support both from Russia and the West, Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Studies of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Gusev, said.
The expert said that Uzbekistan has turned towards the West, because President Islam Karimov thinks that Uzbekistan has been denied water by Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the last year and a half.
"According to the Uzbek authorities, and I stress, according to Uzbekistan, Russia supports Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan ", Gusev said.
The countries of Central Asia have been failing to resolve the region's water and electricity problems for many years.
Before flowing into Uzbekistan, the rivers run through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, where they are losing much of their water. Uzbekistan greatly suffers from such a lack of water since its main crop is cotton.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, lacking electricity, need additional hydropower stations and they expect financial support from Russia. Constructing a power plant may reduce the waterways and hence is very disadvantageous to Uzbekistan.
Expert said that there are a number of conditions limiting the actions of the Collective Rapid Reaction Force within the CSTO. Tashkent refused to take part in the exercises.
"Uzbekistan proposed not to use the Collective Rapid Reaction Force's units in conflicts between members of the bloc, as well as not to send them to other countries if it is contrary to national laws," Gusev said. Moreover, Tashkent also expressed its desire not to participate in the Collective Rapid Reaction Force permanently, but only delegate its units."
The reason is that Uzbekistan has begun to actively cooperate with the West, especially with the US, for the last year, the political scientist said.
He said that many of Karimov's actions are connected with this. Uzbekistan suspended its activity in the Eurasian Economic Community in autumn 2008 and refused to participate in projects of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Since Soviet times, Uzbekistan has competed with Kazakhstan for control in Central Asia and it is still losing, the expert said.
The Uzbek leadership feels it will be able to get additional support in this issue with the help of the US.
Gusev said that Uzbekistan is unlikely to leave the CSTO in the near future as such an action would not be favorable for Uzbekistan. It would lose much in terms of security, the expert said.
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