ABSTRACT
After 11 September, Central Asia received a hitherto never earned attention for the first time since the Middle Ages (or at least since the Great Game in the nineteenth century). In Putin’s first term, the United States made its heavy imprints on the Central Asian sub-complex and in his second term, Central Asia appeared as a contest ground also between Russia and China. These ‘external’ actors have, of course, to some extent also influenced Russia’s relations with the individual Central Asian states, which is the reason for treating them here.
