Russia Signs Strategic Partnership Deal With Uzbekistan

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Russia Signs Strategic Partnership Deal With Uzbekistan, Seeking to Restore Central Asia Sphere

By Burt Herman Associated Press Writer
Published: Jun 16, 2004

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBFWOS3KVD.html




TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) - President Vladimir Putin signed a strategic partnership deal Wednesday with Uzbekistan, seeking to restore Russian influence in the Central Asian nation which had become a key U.S. military ally since the Sept. 11 attacks.


Uzbek President Islam Karimov has charted an independent course since the 1991 Soviet collapse and became a strategic partner of the United States in 2002, after the Uzbeks offered use of a key air base to hundreds of U.S. troops to oust the hard-line Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan.

The Putin-Karimov deal calls for cooperation across a range of economic sectors and closer diplomatic and academic ties. The move seeks to restore Moscow as a major player in Central Asia, which was considered part of the Kremlin's sphere of influence since Czarist times.

"We've signed a document that opens a new page in the history of our relations," Putin said, Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported. "The treaty has no time restrictions and lays down a solid foundation for the Russian-Uzbek strategic partnership."

Karimov called the talks "significant" and added they would "open new prospects for our long-term relations."