The strategically important central Asian state of Kyrgyzstan has elected its fourth president since its independence from the old Soviet Union 20 years ago this December amid talk that it could be one of the first of the former Soviet republics to join up to Vladimir Putin’s vision of a Eurasian Union.
Almazbek Atambayev, a close friend of Mr Putin and who proposed the naming of a peak in the Tian Shan mountains as Vladimir Putin Peak, which was approved by the Kyrgyz parliament earlier this year, won the presidential election with 63.24 per cent of the vote. He will take office next January.
Kyrgyzstan remains one of the most pro-Russian states from the former Soviet Union. Kirgizia, as the country is historically known, was an artificial state created by Josef Stalin in the 1930s to prevent a unified central Asian bloc being formed against Moscow in the event of this region ever becoming independent.
Like the rest of the central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan – Kyrgyzstan felt betrayed by the collapse of the Soviet Union and anxious about no longer being a part of Russia. However, Moscow, buoyed by its new status as an energy superpower, has in the last decade cemented itself as the dominant outside power in Kyrgyzstan and central Asia as a whole. But this could be the beginning of something historic.
Vladimir Putin’s suggestion of establishing a Eurasian Union comprised of former Soviet states has been well received in Kyrgyzstan. President-elect Atambayev has pledged to bring his country into the Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan and has said he will not extend the lease on the US airbase at Manas, near the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, in 2014.
The base was established there in 2001, with Russian consent, to support American military operations in Afghanistan against the Taliban. Mr Atambayev supports Russia increasing its military presence in the country (Moscow currently has a major airbase at Kant).
While Mr Putin has said that the Eurasian Union will be similar to the European Union, experts believe it could lead to the creation of a new country resembling – and along very similar borders to – the old Soviet state.
Moves to reintegrate former Soviet states, under Mr Putin’s encouragement, is gaining momentum with the recent signing in St Petersburg of a free trade area between Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia. Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which went virtually unnoticed in Western media.
