Central Asia is key to the Eurasian bridge.

Since the USSR’s dissolution, Russia has experienced a continuous debate about its national identity and great power status. This paper qualitatively analyses how Neo-Eurasianist thought impacted political and societal discourse, then compares how these developments have shaped Russian foreign policy towards Central Asia, inside the frameworks of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

To create an alternative national idea, the Kremlin has adapted its Eurasianist rhetoric to ideological demands of the public as well as strategic implications of anti-globalist foreign policy. However, its moves can be largely explained through political opportunism.

While the EAEU serves as a post-Soviet institutional flagship, the union lacks a sense of community and the Russian policies largely neglect internal divisions for the sake of national interest. The SCO could be considered more Eurasianist in geopolitical spirit but it suffers from a general divide between Moscow and Beijing.