The political scientist explained the nature of Uzbekistan's relations with the United States

Western countries now have a better understanding of the specifics of Central Asia than they did in the 90s, Rustam Burnashev, a security specialist in Central Asia, told Izvestia. However, the new agreements between the United States and Uzbekistan do not indicate a serious rapprochement between the two countries.

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Mikhail Mishustin's visit to Tashkent confirmed that relations between the two countries have reached a new level.

"There is an understanding, and it is mutual, cooperation is quite active, the area is well studied. But there is no need to talk about the rapprochement between Uzbekistan and the United States. In fact, this is just a normal technical partnership, which has always been there," the expert explained.

At times, this interaction intensified, and at times it slowed down, the political scientist added. But in his opinion, in any case, we are talking about pragmatic relations — Washington has a need for certain products produced by Uzbekistan, Tashkent has its own interests related to the United States.

"This is such a business partnership. But in terms of scale and impact on both economic and political processes, it certainly does not reach the level of cooperation that Uzbekistan has with Russia or with China, or with neighboring countries. This partnership or its fluctuations cannot have any serious impact on Uzbekistan's interaction with regional partners," the expert expressed his conviction.

Read more in the Izvestia article:

Rare Earth interest: The United States wanted to enter Central Asia through Uzbekistan