There are some Central Asian countries that are not ready to take risks and may join Western sanctions against Russia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin made the statement on Tuesday at the III Central Asian Conference of the Valdai International Discussion Club.
The Russian deputy minister said that despite the coincidence of positions regarding the unacceptability and illegitimacy of unilateral economic sanctions, a number of Central Asian states did not want to jeopardize their status and might follow Western restrictive measures.
According to Galuzin, Russia does not dictate to any country how to run its foreign or internal policy as long as they do not contradict those mutual obligations enshrined in the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization), EAEU(Eurasian Economic Union) and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States ) agreements.
"We are confident that Central Asia states fully understand that the artificial ties destruction with Russia can result in more serious damage than the secondary sanctions," he added.
The Deputy Minister emphasized that Russia is determined to consistently strengthen strategic partnership relations with the countries of Central Asia.
Galuzin's words are quoted by TASS from his speech at the Valdai conference on "Russia and Central Asia: Interfacing with a Changing World" which is being held on May 16 and 17 at Tomsk State University.
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