the Russian economy. In particular, the shortage of cotton on the international market caused by the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) prompted Russian officials to expand cotton production in Central Asia for domestic use and for international trade purposes.
Second, Central Asia was strategically important. As noted, Russia found it was competing with Great Britain over South Asian possessions in what was often dubbed “the Great Game.” As Russia expanded its control over the steppes of Kazakhstan and into the settled regions of Turkestan, attention was directed southward. It was not until the negotiated border agreement of 1895 that Russia and Great Britain came to terms with their respective holdings in Asia-Russian territory being what is today “Central Asia,” and British territory being the regions of Pakistan and India. Afghanistan was seen as a “neutral buffer state,” albeit under British influence.
Within the Russian-controlled region of Central Asia, major settlements in the north included the strategic Orenburg, Pavlodar, and Semi-palatinsk. Further south, the cities of Vernyy, Pish-pek, and Tashkent were critical. Some of these cities, such as Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand, and Khiva, were ancient cities with large indigenous populations. Others were Russian-dominated settlements. Railway lines connected all of these cities by the early twentieth century, making it easier for Russians to travel through the region.
The Bolshevik Revolution and Civil War were periods of great turmoil in Central Asia. It was not until 1922 that the Red Army forces under General Frunze were able to quell all significant opposition to the regime-both “White Army” forces and nationalist movements representing indigenous groups. The last “Basmachi” incursion into Central Asia took place in 1936, by which time the region was firmly in Soviet hands.
Throughout the Soviet period, Central Asia remained a source of raw materials. A more sinister usage of Central Asia for the Soviet state was the creation of detention camps within the Gulag system. Located in the western regions of Kazakhstan,
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Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan-around the Aral Sea-these camps held thousands of political prisoners through the 1980s. In addition, Central Asia remained a “destination of exile” for other political dissidents who were forced to move from Russia proper. Indeed, this “tradition” predated the Soviet era. Under Josef Stalin, entire ethnic groups were deported to Central Asia, especially in the 1940s. Chechens, Crimean Tatars, Volga German, and others were sent to Central Asia as they were suspected of being Nazi sympathizers during World War II. Koreans that traditionally lived in the Soviet Union near the Korean peninsula were also deported to Central Asia in the 1950s. It was not until the 1980s that many of these peoples were able to return to their native lands.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the independent states of Central Asia have remained important to Russia. For much of the 1990s, indeed, Russian leaders considered it part of their “Near Abroad.” Even in the early twenty-first century, there is a sense that Central Asia is part of the Russian national security interest region. Trade relations, although decreasing since the Soviet era, remain significant. Energy transfer routes often pass through Russia and many communication links are still northward. There is also a cultural link that is somewhat important to Russia. Several million Russians continue to live in Central Asia, particularly in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. While this was often deemed a source of potential conflict, it is more the case that Russians living in Central Asia will become less attached to Russia proper as time passes.
One interesting trend that has taken place since the early 1990s is the change in nomenclature in the region. In Turkmenistan, for example, the city of Krasnovodsk has been renamed Turkmenbashi (after the current Turkmen president). In Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic, there have been some changes of names for mountains (Pik Somoni instead of Pik Kommunizm in Tajikistan) and regions (“wiloyat” instead of “oblast”). One finds the most significant name changes in Kazakhstan. Semipalatinsk has been renamed Se-mei, Alma-Ata has been renamed Almaty, and Ak-mola has been renamed Astana, to name a few. This sort of “cosmetic change” is important in the development of regional identities and is expected to continue. In addition, the use of Russian language and the Cyrillic alphabet are decreasing, further noting a cultural distancing from Russia. Ultimately, Central Asia remains important to Russia, but in a limited way. Central Asian countries have increased their ties to other countries, such as China, Turkey, and the United States. In addition, as energy exports from Central Asia increase, Russia will find itself sharing influence in the region. See also: BASMACHIS; COLONIAL EXPANSION; GULAG; KAZAKHSTAN AND KAZAKHS; ISLAM; KYRGYZSTAN AND KYRGYZ; NEAR ABROAD; TAJIKISTAN AND TAJIKS; TURKENISTAN AND TURKMEN; UZBEKISTAN AND UZBEKS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allison, Roy and Johnson, Lena, eds. (2001). Central Asian Security: The New International Context. London: RIIA. Allworth, Edward, ed. (1994). Central Asia: 130 Years of Russia Dominance, A Historical Overview. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Bennigsen, Alexandre, and Wimbush, S. Enders. (1985). Muslims of the Soviet Empire: A Guide. London: C. Hurst and Company. Grousset, Rene. (1970). The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, tr. Naomi Walford. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Hopkirk, Peter. (1994). The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. New York: Kodansha International. Khalid, Adeeb. (1998). The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia. Berkeley: The University of California Press. Olcott, Martha Brill. (1996). Central Asia’s New States: Independence, Foreign Policy, and Regional Security. Washington, DC: USIP Press. Oliker, Olga, and Szayana, Thomas S., eds. (2003). Fault-lines of Conflict in Central Asia and the South Caucasus: Implications for the U.S. Army. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Roi, Yaacov, ed. (1995). Muslim Eurasia: Conflicting Legacies. London: Frank Cass. Roy, Olivier. (2000). The New Central Asia: The Creation of Nations. New York: NYU Press.
ROGER KANGAS
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is the highest monetary authority in the Russian Federation. It sets
and carries out Russian monetary policy, supervises the commercial banking system, and maintains the payments system. In addition, it holds majority ownership in Vneshtorgbank (Russia’s state-controlled foreign trade bank) and Sberbank (the state savings bank). The Russian Constitution (ratified in December 1993) and the “Revised Law on the Central Bank” (passed in April 1995, modifying the 1990 Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic “Law on the Central Bank”) jointly provide the legal basis for its activities. Both the constitution and the revised law grant the CBR a high degree of formal independence from the government. While scholars disagree over the extent of the CBR’s actual political independence during the post-communist transition, all concur that its policies played a pivotal role in Russian economic development.
The Russian Republic founded the CBR in July 1990, and Georgy Matyukhin, an academic, became its first director. This occurred in the context of a fierce sovereignty battle between the Soviet central government led by Mikhail Gorbachev and the Russian republic government led by Boris Yeltsin. Russian authorities transformed a branch of the State Bank of the USSR (Gosbank) into the CBR in an attempt to gain local control over Russian monetary and banking affairs. Both the Soviet and Russian governments subsequently took numerous steps to increase the influence of their respective central banks, and this so-called “war of the banks” represented one of the first efforts by a republic-level institution to pull away from the center. The struggle ended with the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. On January 1, 1992, the CBR took over the rest of Gosbank’s resources in Russia, and Gosbank officially ceased to exist.
In April 1992, the CBR leadership passed from Matyukhin to former Gosbank director Viktor Gerashchenko. Numerous controversial incidents characterized Gerashchenko’s first tenure as CBR head (1992-1994), such as the July 1992 decision to wipe out mutually accrued debt among Russian enterprises, thereby formally ending Russia’s flirtation with “shock therapy”; the surprise introduction of a new Russian currency in July 1993; and Gerashchenko’s support for the Russian parliament after Yeltsin’s September 1993 decision to disband it. Gerashchenko lost his job in November 1994 as a consequence of the ruble’s exchange rate collapse on “Black Tuesday” (October 11). His deputy Tatiana Paramonova served as acting CBR director until November 1995, when the Russian Duma confirmed former acting finance minister and commercial banker Sergei Dubinin as CBR head. Dubinin was forced out after the massive Russian financial crisis of August 1998, which many blamed on CBR policy. Gerashchenko replaced Dubinin and enjoyed a second stormy tenure at the CBR until his resignation in March 2002. The Duma confirmed Russia’s deputy finance minister, Sergei Ignatiev, as the new director shortly thereafter. See
