Izvestiya of Saratov University.
ISSN 1819-4907 (Print)
ISSN 2542-1913 (Online)


Central Asia

The main directions of NATO interaction with the states of Central Asia in the XXI century

The article examines NATO’s interaction with Central Asian states in bilateral and multilateral formats over the past 20 years. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the Afghan factor in the relations of the parties. The author concludes that for several decades NATO has purposely tried to strengthen its geopolitical position in Central Asia in order to reduce Russia’s influence on regional security processes. 

Perspectives of the ‘New Silk Road’ Strategy in the context of NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan

The article focused on the issue of implementation of the ‘New Silk Road’ strategy. Author analyses the key conditions, risks and opportunities, which may affect the success of the Project. It also examined the role of Central Asian countries, as well as the Mid Eastern partners, China and Russia in the field strengthening of regional security after 2014

SCO IN THE GLOBAL ENCIRCLEMENT OF CRITICISM АGAINST THE BACKGROUND OF THE ACTIVE U. S. BASE POLICYIN THE «GREAT CENTRAL ASIA»

SCO actions in Central Asia (CA) are often become criticized by NATO and its loyal states. The key reasons for that are named to be the military trainings run by SCO and its close ties with Iran as it is a non-official member there or one of the SCO’s observers. The article offers various opinions both amiable and critical with regard to SCO expressed by the world community. The next part of the article describes the US policy for basing its troops in the region and a general situation regarding Pentagon’s military bases located in the CA and Pakistan.

China’s policy in Central Asia and Russia’s strategy

The article is devoted to the study of the geo-political changes in Central Asia. The expansion of China’s influence and Russia’s weakening are analyzed. The author defines the factors that Russia can oppose to the prospects for transforming this region into Pax Sinica

New project of the railway Uzbekistan –China and transportation system of Kyrgyzstan

The most pressing problem of Kyrgyzstan’s economy is the lack of well-developed transportation system. Actually the main issue for Kyrgyzstan is to connect the North and South parts of the country through railroad to promote the transit role of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.

Yuri N. Roerich’s contribution to the study of the Tocharians

This article deals with Yuri Roerich’s articles “Tocharian Problem”, “The Memory of Tocharians in Tibet” and his “The History of Central Asia”. Roerich concluded that Tocharians of the Ancient Greek authors were identical to the Yuezhi of the Chinese texts. Moreover, he considered the Kushans to be identical to the Yuezhi-Tocharians. He held the initiative to create the International Commission for the integrated study of the Kushan Empire’s history.