Milan, November 25 (askanews) – Vladimir Putin is seeking to maintain Russia’s influence in Central Asia while China as well as European countries take an increasingly important role in regional trade and after US President Donald Trump hosted the C5+1, or leaders of the five countries in the region, also known as the 5 Stans, for the first time on November 6 at the White House. The big game is balance: The United States is seeking influence in the region close to Russia and China, and Kyrgyzstan is among those sitting with the American billionaire. Although US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s promised trip to five Central Asian republics in 2026 could provide a further boost to America’s push in the region.
Central Asia’s vast but still largely untapped mineral wealth, including uranium, copper, gold and rare earth metals, is attracting global attention amid increasing competition for critical minerals as Western countries seek to diversify supply chains away from Moscow and Beijing. Kyrgyzstan is of course not rich in natural resources, but it has strategic strength. It is no coincidence that relations between the US and the five Stans increasingly changed until the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the entire Central Asian region taking an increasingly interesting role, especially on the southern side.
Putin was welcomed by President Sadyr Zhaparov on his arrival for a state visit and Russia’s economic superiority in the country was reaffirmed several times by Moscow. Putin will spend three days there and will participate in the next meeting, in Bishkek, the capital, of the Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which is chaired by Russia. And from a security perspective, Moscow remains indispensable to Kyrgyzstan. Moreover, after the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska, Zhaparov himself said that he believed better interaction between Russia and the United States would create favorable conditions for a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.
