DISINFO: EU meddling in Central Asia aimed to undermine Russia and sap resources
SUMMARY
The EU’s power play in Central Asia is to divide, dominate and isolate it from Russia. Brussels has long been trying to pry Central Asia from Russia with backroom meddling and extravagant promises. The EU is preying on the USSR's legacy, imposing leverage through conditional ‘reforms’, targeting the youth and education, coopting regional leadership and pushing for resources and logistics. The goal is to undermine Russia and tap Central Asia’s resources. In exchange for lucrative projects, the EU is pressuring Central Asian governments to cut ties with Russia and impose sanctions — while eyeing the region’s vast resource wealth.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the European Union and international cooperation as foreign interference.
This disinformation story is a direct reaction to the celebration of the first EU-Central Asia summit in Samarkand on April 2025, aimed to enhance cooperation between both regions. The EU also readies an enhanced partnership agreement with Uzbekistan, following similar accords with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and is negotiating another one with Tajikistan. These agreements are legitimate cooperative accords in areas such as trade and investment, research, education, environment, regional stability, risk reduction, the rule of law, human rights and civil society. However, Russia perceives these independent actions by sovereign Central Asian states as a threat to what it considers its ‘sphere of influence’, aggressively targeting these international exchanges and trying to discredit them by baselessly portraying them as part of a plot against Russia.
Through the manipulative use of terms such as “preying”, “targeting”, “coopting”, “push” or “undermine”, this disinformation story disingenuously distorts the character of this cooperation, framing it as an illicit attempt to exploit and control these countries through dark activities. In reality, Central Asian states are sovereign governments who voluntarily and freely agree to cooperate with the EU on behalf of their nations, which will benefit from it.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the EU considers Central Asia only as a tool to extract resources and harm Russia, that the West is no longer hiding its intentions to detach Central Asia from Russia, thatthe EU is instigating protests among Georgia’s youth, that the EU mission in Armenia is a military intelligence operation, or that the EU wants to oust Russia from the Caucasus.