SIPRI sees increased role for Russia in modernising Central Asia’s military

Russia remains the principal partner for Central Asia’s armed forces.

According to research carried out by Dmitriy Gorenburg , an analyst at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) titled ‘External Support for the Military and Security Forces of Central Asia,’ Moscow’s influence in this region can only grow once NATO and U.S. Forces have withdrawn from Afghanistan.

In the analyst’s opinion, despite increased spending on the military, only Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are in the process of forming a combat capable military, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have difficulty in forming even small, rapid reaction corps. Tajikistan’s problems stem from a lack of specialists that are capable of developing a plan for structural reform of the nation’s armed forces.

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