Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, believes that it is now necessary to work more actively to strengthen cooperation with Central Asian countries in order to rule out the possibility of the United States taking advantage of the situation in order to weaken Russia's position in the region.
"We should not rule out the US desire to take advantage of the situation to weaken our country's position in the region. In these circumstances, more effective measures are needed to strengthen Russia's cooperation with the countries of Central Asia, including through the CSTO, in order to preserve stability in the region," he said Thursday at a roundtable on the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on the security of countries in the region.
Karasin noted that the situation in Afghanistan remains complicated and is fraught with internal confrontation. According to him, Afghanistan is a vivid example of the failure of the policy of the United States and NATO.
"Against the background of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, the collective West has launched a sanctions-based economic and even diplomatic war against our country. All this has a serious destabilizing effect on the situation in the world and increases security risks in traditionally difficult regions," stressed the head of the committee.
He added that the Russian leadership has repeatedly stressed its interest in a stable situation in Central Asia. "This position is shared by our allies in the CIS and CSTO. The third ministerial conference of Afghanistan's neighbors held in China on March 31 was of great significance, where the issues of promoting post-conflict reconstruction and normalization of the socio-economic situation in this country were discussed in detail," the parliamentarian said.
Karasin cited the opinion of experts who estimate that in the near future we can expect an influx of refugees from the territory of Afghanistan to Central Asia, as well as an increase in drug trafficking and the growth of extremism.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS