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УДК 327

RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY IN CENTRAL ASIA:

METHODS OF SOFT AND HARD POWER

A.N. Ospanova, O.I. Rakhmatulin

L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan, Astana,

e-mail: Rakhmatulin-os@mail.ru

Russia’s foreign policy in Central Asia from the point of view of soft and hard

power concepts is considered. Foreign policy is an important element of the state

apparatus, which is becoming increasingly important in a globalizing world. In-

tegration at dierent levels requires the search for increasingly new and eective

methods of foreign policy interaction. On the example of soft and hard power strat-

egies, an analysis of the methods of Russia’s foreign policy in the Central Asian re-

gion is conducted. The article analyzes the possibility of searching for new models

of cooperation. This region is selected based on historical features of the relation-

ship both in the times of the USSR, and earlier. In addition, the countries of the re-

gion actively cooperate and interact in political, economic, energy, social, and other

elds. All this causes the existence of the basis for the existence of mechanisms

of soft, hard power in Russia, as one of the most interested party in participating

in the processes taking place in the region.

Thus, Russia uses the opportunities and advantages of spreading Russian as one

of the main instruments of soft power. There is also a military political presence in

the region within the framework of mutually cooperative relations. All this allows

us to promote our foreign policy and to coordinate with other countries in this

direction.

Keywords: foreign policy, soft power, hard power, Russia, Central Asia, lan-

guage, culture, army.

ВНЕШНЯЯ ПОЛИТИКА РОССИИ

В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЙ АЗИИ:

МЕТОДЫ МЯГКОЙ И ЖЕСТКОЙ СИЛЫ

А.Н. Оспанова, О.И. Рахматулин

Евразийский национальный университет им. Л.Н. Гумилева, Казахстан, Астана,

e-mail: Rakhmatulin-os@mail.ru

Рассматривается внешняя политика России в Центральной Азии с точки

зрения концепций мягкой и жесткой силы. Внешняя политика – важный эле-

мент государственного аппарата, который становится все более значимым

в глобализирующемся мире. Интеграция на разных уровнях требует поиска

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196 № 1 2018

все более новых и эффективных методов внешнеполитического взаимодей-

ствия. На примере стратегий мягкой и жесткой силы проводится анализ ме-

тодов внешней политики России в регионе Центральной Азии. В статье ана-

лизируется возможность поиска новых моделей сотрудничества. Данный

регион выбран исходя из исторических особенностей взаимоотношений

как во времена СССР, так и более ранних. Помимо этого страны региона

активно сотрудничают и взаимодействуют в политической, экономической,

энергетической, социальной и других областях. Все обусловливает наличие

основ для существования механизмов мягкой и жесткой сил России как од-

ной из самых заинтересованных сторон в участии в процессах, происходя-

щих в регионе.

Таким образом, Россия использует свои возможности и преимущества

распространения русского языка как одного из главных инструментов мягкой

силы. В регионе также имеется военно-политическое присутствие в рамках

взаимовыгодных отношений на основе сотрудничества. Все это позволяет

продвигать свою внешнюю политику и конкурировать с другими странами в

этом направлении.

Ключевые слова: внешняя политика, мягкая сила, жесткая сила, Россия,

Центральная Азия, язык, культура, армия.

Introduction

The study of this region is relevant in connection with the interest of world powers

towards Central Asia. Today the CA region is not only a trade and economic market, with

huge reserves of energy and mineral resources, but also a «bridge» between East and West.

But there is also a danger of spreading religious extremism. With each study of the history

and processes taking place between the countries of the former USSR, in particular the

countries of Central Asia and Russia, studies of the evolution of relationships are espe

cially interesting. As after the severing of ties, new ones began to form. Every year new

spheres of cooperation are being created. Today, the countries interact not only on the ba

sis of bilateral relations, but also within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union,

the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and

so on. Thus, active foreign policy activities are maintained both from Russia and in its

direction.

The authors use historical, systemic and comparative approaches to assess the

mechanisms of foreign policy in order to achieve their goals.

The novelty of the work is, rst of all, the need to continue research in this direc

tion. In the opinion of the authors, the necessity is explained by the fact that consideration

of a single foreign policy course, through the prism of the unit, on methods of soft and

hard power, and possibly in the future use of other new approaches. Also it allows to look

at current events from a new perspective. Particularly noteworthy is the comparison of the

mechanisms for the implementation of foreign policy strategy.

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Methods

Sources for writing the work were monographs on the concept of «soft and hard

power», scientic articles, reports, reviews, ocial statistics, which generally allowed to

highlight the main aspects of the article.

When studying this problem, the authors based on factual, documentary and histor

ical material used in specic studies. Various methods were used:

1) with the help of an analytical method, the main factors of the organization of foreign

policy in Central Asia are considered;

2) on the basis of a comparative method, the basic mechanisms for implementing foreign

policy have been studied and analyzed;

3) within the framework of the historical method, the causes, main events and the legal

framework in the eld of foreign policy of the Russian Federation were investigated.

Results

Summarizing the results of our research work, we note that during the period

of building its foreign policy, Russia has managed to use cultural and historical ties with

the countries of Central Asia in the eld of the development of science and the spread

of the Russian language. There are such organizations as «Rossotrudnichestvo» «Rus

sian world», in the eld of education and science, the activities of the AMGorchakov

Foundation, which organizes conferences, roundtables, for students and young scien

tists, are celebrated. In addition, the opening of joint educational institutions plays a spe-

cial role in this direction, which is basically a good basis for promoting Russian science

and the role of the Russian language in scientic communication. Thus, exerting its

inuence on new generations, not caught the period of the USSR. This allows Russian

inuence to remain relevant for every younger generation, becoming more attractive

to the masses. On the other hand, the existence of soft power institutions and mecha

nisms does not guarantee Russia success in this direction, since the organization of work

requires tremendous eort, a technical and humanitarian base that translates into large

nancial investments. For Russia, if there are internal unresolved issues in the sphere of

social policy and economic problems. And also, since the region of Central Asia is not

the only important direction in the external political strategy of the Russian Federation,

it is not the priority to work on organizing soft power in Central Asia. That is, the cur

rent level of impact of Russia’s soft power in Central Asia has not yet reached the mark

of eective returns and results, which means that Moscow can continue and strengthen

this course.

Speaking about the hard power in Russia’s foreign policy in Central Asia, everything

is also not unique here. On the one hand, on the territory of the countries of the region

there are signs of hard power, these are military bases, equipment, soldiers, auxiliary mil

itary-strategic structures. But on the other hand, this does not fully correspond to the tra-

ditional denition of hard power. Because there is no explicit bonus of these resources

for their intended purpose. At the same time, the activities of these units demonstrate the

presence of Russia’s military power in Central Asia.

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Discussion

Unlike the last centuries, modern states have learned to widely use not only mili

tary, but also peaceful means of promoting foreign policy. Widely known traditional mil-

itary-political methods, which have received the name of hard power, are gradually re-

placed by elements of a more exible policy, today labeled soft power.

Especially often the methods of hard power were used during the two world wars

and the Cold War. Today, the use of hard power is somewhat limited by the existence

of international agreements, rules, political and economic organizations. Thus, any ag

gressive initiative in foreign policy can be subject to world criticism and countermeas-

ures. Against this backdrop, special attention was given to the soft power strategy. This

term was introduced in 1990 by Professor Joseph Nye, who in his books «Bound to

Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power» (Joseph Nye,1990) and «Soft Power:

«The Means to Success in World Politics» (Joseph Nye,2004) argued that language

and culture play a key role in international relations, inuencing politics and business

relations.

«Soft power» is a strategy that allows dierent sides to want, and strives for the

same results. But this does not mean coercion or any inuence. The main emphasis is on

using techniques of persuasions, beliefs, arguments, facts and other «soft methods» with

the aim of attracting to mutual cooperation. That is, in this way, attractiveness becomes

the key word here. Although speaking of application in foreign policy, it can also be un

derstood that promotion of one’s interests.

Speaking of «hard power» it is necessary to understand that its conceptual dier

ence consists in coercion, and the promotion of its interests on the basis of the military

economic power of the determining party. This strategy is relevant in the modern world.

When states seek to protect sovereignty and interests from terrorist organizations capable

of aggressive military and subversive actions.

The central concept in any strategy is, rst of all, power or strength. At the same

time, military and economic aspects belong to the hard power. And soft power is based on

such pillars as culture, political ideology and foreign policy. If the rst two can be attrib

uted to historical components, then foreign policy to a more subjective and special case.

Dependent on the actions of ocial bodies of the state.

The common basis for both hard power and soft is that they both can lead to the

attainment of the tasks set, inuencing the behavior of other participants in international

relations. The only dierence is that dierent resources and tools are used. So hard power

resorts to the strength of its economy and army, and soft power uses cooperation and coor

dination of foreign policy measures, involving a wide range of participants in its impact,

and all the while is formed on the basis of values and cultural features. Another distin

guishing feature of the soft power is its relative independence from the state apparatus

itself, in comparison with the hard power. Which, in turn, is much more tied to political

actions and completely depends on them. On the one hand, it makes it easier to control the

mechanism for carrying out «hard measures» than to follow the «soft processes», but on

the other hand, the latter are less likely to meet ocial barriers, because the ways of their

spreading become society.

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Nevertheless, the strategy of hard power does not lose its relevance to foreign poli-

cy, which is connected with geopolitical and economic interests, as well as with the issues

of state security.

This can be conrmed by an annual increase in military spending, for example,

in Russia: 2.8129 trillion. rubles in 2013, 3.2505 trillion rubles in 2014, 4.0474 trillion

rubles in 2015 (SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, 2016) 3.945 trillion rubles in 2016

and 3,776 trillions. rubles in 2017 (SIPRI: Russia increases military spending despite 

nancial diculties, 2017).

Analyzing Russia’s foreign policy in Central Asia in this article, it can be noted that

Russia’s interest in Central Asia comes primarily from the desire to maintain its political

and economic inuence in the region. The greater the inuence of Russia’s foreign policy

in the Central Asian region, the more political weight Russia has on the world stage. The

weakening of ties with the Central Asian states can lead to the fact that the Russian inu

ence will be replaced by another, threatening the internal stability of the Russian Federa-

tion and the region as a whole. In addition, the importance is added by the fact that stable

strategic relations with the countries of the region facilitate access to markets and new are

as of cooperation with China, India, Iran, etc. It can be noted cooperation in the framework

of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. On the other hand, relations with Central Asia

for Russia are important in relation to their own internal interests. This provides access to

the market where Russian goods come in, realizing a signicant part of the export of food

products, machinery, light industry, etc. On the other hand, large ows of labor migrants

arrive in Russia, which also signicantly aects the country’s economy. Speaking about

migration processes, it should be noted that if ocial migration ows aect the economy,

the informal ones additionally become security issues for Moscow. In general, the security

policy of the Russian Federation and Central Asia are linked by such areas as the threat of

penetration by radical terrorist organizations that take place in the Middle East. Also, the

drug trac that begins its journey settles both in the countries of Central Asia and in Rus

sia, and in addition it also nds ways to enter the countries of Europe. Thus, this problem

becomes common for the region.

In this way, it can be noted that regional security issues are extremely important

both for Russia and for the countries of Central Asia Concept of foreign policy of the Rus

sian Federation,2016). Due to its military and political potential, Russia is to some extent

a guarantor of security in the region. And this is ensured by using the military-political

potential of Russia, as well as military bases and cooperation within the CSTO framework.

Military bases are one of the part of backbone for military operations greatly in

creasing its success. Thus, the largest military base in Russia in Central Asia is located

in Tajikistan (201 military base), the number of 5.9 thousand military, and by 2020 is

planned to increase to 9 thousand (Małgorzata Krakowska, 2017). Also in Tajikistan is

the opto-electronic complex «Window» («Nurek») and space monitoring systems, which

make it possible to detect space objects at altitudes of up to 40,000 km. The presence of

military objects is important both for Russia and for Tajikistan itself because of its proxim

ity to Afghanistan, as well as in connection with threats to the country’s internal stability

(Abdujalil Abdurasulov, 2015).

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200 № 1 2018

Another strategically important object for Russia is the Baikonur cosmic com-

plex in Kazakhstan, which remains the rst and largest cosmodrome in the world, where

only in 2015 there were 18 launches from 86 worldwide (Soa Pale, 2015), 13 launches

in 2017 (Baikonur remained the leader in the number of launch vehicles in 2015, 2015).

In addition, in Kazakhstan there is a separate regiment of transport aviation in the city

of Kostanay, the test site of Sary-Shagan and other objects.

In Kyrgyzstan, there are such objects as the 338 communication center of the Rus

sian Navy capable of conducting radar reconnaissance of the terrain, as well as the test

base of anti-submarine torpedo weapons on Issyk-Kul Lake. But the main military object

for Russia in this country is the joint aviation base of Kant. The signicance of this base

lies in the possibility of ying aviation both in the Central Asia region and the Middle

East. It is noteworthy that until 2014, 30 km from Kant, was the center for transit trans

portation of the US Air Force - Manas.

It should be noted that the Kant airbase remains the site for the dislocation of avi

ation of the Collective Rapid Response Force (CBDN) in Central Asia within the frame-

work of the CSTO (Bobokulov I., 2012). Cooperation within the framework of the Col-

lective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is another important aspect of the Russian

foreign policy in Central Asia. On the one hand, the organization is called upon to unite

the military forces of states, together to confront threats to security (extremism, drug traf

cking, military conicts), and on the other hand it ensures the relevance of the military

facilities of the Russian Federation in these countries.

The undoubted advantages of Russia’s military technical potential for its foreign

policy, both within the framework of the CSTO and for the two-way cooperation, is that

the military forces of the Central Asian states are mostly technically equipped with mili

tary equipment of the USSR and modern Russia, which in turn leads to aection military

complexes of Russian troops. And here opens a new aspect of the military-industrial com

plex of Russia, where the popularity of military equipment and its recognition as one of

the best in the world, directly aects the increase in the attractiveness of the country as

a whole. And this, in turn, is already one of the tasks of the «soft power» of the Russian

Federation.

Russia has great potential for the development of its «soft power» in the republics

of Central Asia. This is due to the common cultural values that prevailed in the period of

the USSR and before it. Also, the spread of the Russian language as one of the interna

tional languages is one of the main instruments of soft power. So, for example, the status

of the Russian language in Kazakhstan in accordance with Article 7 of Section 1 of the

Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan «in ocial organizations and bodies of local

self-government on an equal footing with Kazakh, the Russian language is ocially used»

(The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 1995). In accordance with Article 10 of

the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2010, Russian has the status of an ocial lan

guage (The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, 2010). In general, in the republics of the

post-Soviet bloc, the overwhelming majority of residents speak or understand the Russian

language. In addition, the popularity of the language is supported by widespread Russian

media and Internet resources.

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Speaking about the ocial nature of the concept of «soft power» in Russia, it is

necessary to note the article by V.V. Putin «Russia and Changing the World» in 2010.

Where there was denitely a Russian interpretation of the notion of soft power. It was

emphasized that the instruments of soft power serve foreign policy purposes, and that in

combination these methods do not include the use of weapons. But also the importance of

informational methods of inuence is emphasized (Putin V.V., 2012).

Even before the «soft power» rst appeared in the concept of the foreign policy

of the Russian Federation in 2013, it was implemented by such organizations as the federal

agency Rossotrudnichestvo, created in 2008, and the Russkiy Mir Foundation, established

in 2007 Both organizations promote and popularize Russian culture and language, as well

as interaction with compatriots (Shevtsova L. 2015). So, in Kazakhstan there are 4 centers

of the Fund «Russian World»: in Astana, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Aktobe and Almaty. Kyr

gyzstan has 3 centers in the cities of Osh, Bishkek, and Kant. In Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

there are 4 centers of the «Russian World». Basically, these centers are established on the

bases of universities and libraries (Information portal of the fund Russian world, 2018).

Representatives of Rossotrudnichestvo operate in all republics. On the organiza

tion’s line in 2016 it was planned to allocate 300 quotas to Kazakh students in Russian

universities. In 2015, the quota was 450, while in 2014 – only 200. And for more than

400 teachers of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Moldova, teaching in Russian, seminars

were held to improve the qualications of teaching. Thus, these organizations are engaged

in the popularization of Russian culture, organizing meetings, lectures, arranging cultural

events, etc.

Central to all this is the educational process, because of its focus on the younger

generation and the competent use of scientic and academic literature. At the same time,

those who want to study will also have the opportunity to study at the branches of Russian

universities, which are widely represented in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uz

bekistan. Among them there are such high schools as: Kazakhstan branch of M.V. Lomon-

osov Moscow State University. Lomonosov, Branch of the Baltic State Technical Univer-

sity «Voenmeh» them. D.F. Ustinov in Bishkek, the Russian-Tajik (Slavonic) University,

a branch of the Russian Academy of Economics. G.V. Plekhanov and others. Through all

these opportunities, students from Central Asian countries can study at Russian universi

ties for free or for free. According to statistics, most of the foreign students in Russia are

from Kazakhstan (53.809 people, or 28.8 percent), Turkmenistan (15.631, or 8.4 percent)

and Uzbekistan (15.025, or 8 percent) (Rossotrudnichestvo announced the admission

of foreigners for free education in Russian universities, 2016). The development of inter

relations in the eld of education leads to the development of relations as a whole between

states. It works by the principle: the more people are connected with the culture of another

state, the more they are loyal to it.

The conclusion

Based on the foregoing, we can say that the Russian «soft power» has a huge eld

to deploy its activities, which, of course, is a clear advantage over other countries claiming

leadership in the region. At the same time, Russian capabilities do not guarantee success in

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202 № 1 2018

advancing their foreign policy inuence. This is due to the fact that the Russian «soft pow-

er» is not able to respond quickly and eectively to the challenges in regional relations.

The advantage of this strategy is a deep approach to strengthening its inuence through

culture, which means it takes a longer time.

In turn, the methods of hard power are able to quickly turn the circumstances as

necessary for Russia. The presence of military forces on the territory of the Central Asian

states demonstrates the readiness of the Russian Federation to use them. However, with

such a strategy it is extremely important to understand the boundaries and possibilities

of its use, otherwise there is a danger of negative reaction and loss of one’s positions.

In addition, it is necessary to have economic capacities to support its military forces,

which is also a dicult and expensive task. Russia today has the opportunity to combine

«soft» and «hard» power and create its own «smart power», which some experts inter

pret as an uniquely more eective strategy in the modern world. But before that, it will

be necessary to strengthen the country’s economy, develop a unied, integrated strategy

and withstand the competition of other states. What today is a challenge.

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