Violent acts in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Caucasus engulfed the entire Eurasian Region

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated12/01/2022

The unexpected violent protests in Kazakhstan and the crackdown that followed last week, which saw more than 160 deaths and 6,000 arrests, are part of a larger turmoil.
It enveloped Eurasia that runs across the great steppe from Central Europe to Manchuria.
Each of the current crises in Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Kazakhstan might have a specific logic and trajectory of its own, but together they are reshaping the geopolitics of Eurasia.
Russia, with its geographic spread across Eurasia, is at the very centre of that restructuring.

The author argues that the term “Eurasia” is merely a convenient way of referring to what had been Soviet territory.
Eurasia is the largest continental area comprising 93 countries of Europe and Asia.
It Covers about 36% of the world’s continental landmass & home to over 5 billion people.
Collective arrangements like the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), Conference of Interaction and Confidence-building measures in Asia (CICA), and China’s Belt & Road initiative (BOR) can catapult the region to a ‘super-continent’.

Recent Developments : Increase in geopolitical competition on the Eurasian landmass.
The geopolitical competition is marked by a weaponization of resource and geographical access as a form of domination, practised by China and other big powers.
Russian Centrality in Eurasian Geopolitics:
Russia, with its geographic spread across Eurasia, is at the very centre of that restructuring.
Moscow’s military intervention in Kazakhstan and its recent negotiations with the US on European security underline the Russian centrality in Eurasia.
Rising Chinese Interventions: The Chinese willingness and capacity for military intervention and power projection are growing far beyond its immediate region.
Declining US Influence : American military footprint has shrunk dramatically on the core Eurasian landmass.
While the U.S. had over 2,65,000 troops under its European command in 1992, it now has about 65,000.

The protests that broke out in Kazakhstan on January 2 over a fuel price hike.
It turned into the biggest political crisis the oil-rich Central Asian country’s leadership has faced in over three decades.
Dozens of people, including citizens and police officers, have been killed as protests continue to rage in Kazakhstan, the worst street unrest since the country gained independence 30 years ago.
Thousands have reportedly been arrested in Almaty and of the hundreds injured, at least 60 are in intensive care.
Peacekeeping forces sent from Russia and neighbouring states had arrived on his request.
The Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) reportedly has about 2,500 soldiers.

It is an intergovernmental military alliance (six countries) that came into effect in 2002.
Its origin can be traced to the Collective Security Treaty, 1992 (Tashkent Treaty).
The headquarter is located in the Russian capital of Moscow.
The objectives of the CSTO is to strengthen peace, international and regional security including cybersecurity and stability, the protection on a collective basis of the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the member states.
Current CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Tajikistan.

Although Russia is the weightiest actor in Eurasia, it can’t simply reconstitute the former Soviet space unilaterally.
An accommodation on European security with the West covering areas such as -
: Ukraine’s independence and neutrality,
: The de-escalation of the military confrontation in the heart of Europe through arms control,
: The development of a cooperative agenda on global security.
The above steps significantly improve Moscow’s chances of leading a new Eurasian geopolitical order.