We have noted an article written by Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrey Yermak published on the Uzbek and Azerbaijani news websites, in which he tries, contrary to the obvious, to portray Russia not as the leading partner of the Central Asian states and a factor of regional security and cooperation, but as nearly the biggest threat to the nations that are friendly to our country. Unsurprisingly, Yermak has dishonestly tried to paint the age-old, overall beneficial and mutually enriching coexistence of the peoples of Russia and Central Asia as primitive colonialism, a concept that is offensive for any country.

We would like to remind about the constructive contribution that Russia has made in post-Soviet countries, about Russia’s openness to equal and mutually beneficial cooperation, something we have proven over decades and in multilateral formats such as the EAEU, the CIS, the CSTO, the SCO and other platforms. The world has seen Russia’s genuine peacekeeping efforts, devoid of hidden agendas, in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, both individual and in collective formats, some of them quite recently. I would like to emphasise the generally recognised role of guarantor of security that Russian military bases play in friendly states.

The person who wrote this piece of misinformation certainly deliberately ignored the fact that Russia is the leading partner of the Central Asian countries in a number of projects of high importance for the region’s stable and sustainable development. Our country and the Eurasian Economic Union as a whole account for up to 40 percent of the Central Asian countries’ trade. More than 10,000 Russian businesses and joint ventures operate in the region and have created over 900,000 jobs. About 185,000 Central Asian students are enrolled at Russian universities (60,000 from Kazakhstan, 46,000 from Uzbekistan, 31,000 from Turkmenistan, 30,000 from Tajikistan, and 16,000 from Kyrgyzstan). Moreover, the Russian government provides grants that pay for the education of 68,000 of those promising young people. Russia’s migration cooperation with the Central Asian countries remains a priority. The visa-free regime and the openness of the labour market helps our friends address situations with excess labour resources in the region, ensures additional revenue for their budgets, and supports supply and demand. Russia is improving the legal framework to make labour migration more organised – to minimize the shadow economy segment, create the necessary conditions for hard-working migrants from friendly countries, ensure their compliance with Russian laws, and respect for the local customs and traditions.

In a word, this libeler (he cannot be called anything else) is unable to accept this inconvenient truth: Russia is a friend and defender of anyone who is interested in its friendship and defence, anyone who does not act antagonistically at its doorstep, or attack its citizens, compatriots, culture or history. There are simply no examples to the contrary.

The fact that our allies are providing platforms for a high-ranking representative of the Nazi authorities in Ukraine to distort the essence of our relations is certainly baffling. We know that the collective West, not hiding its intentions to inflict damage on Russia, would use anyone, including the post-Soviet countries – not actually considering them valuable partners, but springboards for attacks on our country that still have untapped potential as such. But it is precisely the Nazi essence of the current government in Kiev, sponsored by the West, that has undermined the foundations of European security.

We respect the freedom of the press. However, it is our belief that the information landscape in countries friendly to us cannot be a platform for broadcasting intentionally false and provocative fabrications.

We have exemplary relations with all countries in the Central Asian region. The allied and strategic nature of our relations serves as a guarantee for this. Yet, Andrey Yermak seems unable to understand that what is happening between Russia and Ukraine is a consequence of years of direct threats, including military threats, on Kiev’s part. Russia’s relations with the states of Central Asia is a far cry from this situation.

It is clear from the above that the parasitic regime in Kiev, which has been living on Western handouts and at the expense of future generations for years, is simply unable to offer anything in terms of experience in statehood development or achieving economic stability.