What Are Russia’s Grand Designs in Central Asia?

Russia has a broader strategy that could leave it as the dominant security actor across much of Eurasia.

(L-R) Presidents of Tajikistan Emomali Rakhmon, Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, Armenia Serge Sarkisian, Russia Vladimir Putin, Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev, and the CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha at the Collective Security Treaty Organization summit in Moscow's Kremlin, Russia, on Dec. 23, 2014. Alexei Druzhinin/Presidential Press Service/RIA Novosti via AP

While international attention has focused on Russian military operations in Ukraine and Syria, Moscow has also been involved in a flurry of diplomatic and security initiatives to address the growing instability in northern Afghanistan.

But its moves to bolster regional security are more than just a response to local security concerns. Russia has a broader strategy that could leave it as the dominant security actor across much of Eurasia.

Even before the shock of the Taliban occupation of Kunduz in late September, Russian officials were concerned about the fragile security situation in northern Afghanistan, including the rise of Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Afghanistan and its potential spread to Central Asia and thence to Russia’s large Muslim community. As if to emphasize the domestic threat, on Oct. 12 Russian police announced that they had uncovered a terrorist plot in Moscow apparently involving a group of Central Asian extremists.

Russia has a broader strategy that could leave it as the dominant security actor across much of Eurasia.