Russia Losing Influence: Central Asia Creates Its Own Energy Market Without Russia

Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service has revealed the details.

Russia is losing the Central Asian energy market.

This is reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.

The Central Asian countries, together with the World Bank, are launching a large-scale REMIT project to unite their energy systems into a single space.

The idea is to balance different types of generation: hydroelectric power plants in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are to be connected with thermal power in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as with solar and wind power. The program is designed for 10 years and its total cost exceeds $1 billion, of which $143 million has already been raised.

Even a few years ago, Russia tried to gain a foothold in the region as a key coordinator of energy integration, the SVR noted. Through the Eurasian Economic Union, it promoted its own project of a common energy center for Central Asia.

But the war against Ukraine, harsh sanctions and the technological lag of Russia and Belarus have effectively frozen these plans - the start of work scheduled for 2025 has been postponed to at least 2027.

The Eurasian Economic Commission itself admits that even 2030 may be only a guideline, not the actual launch date. The main problems are the absence of a full-fledged gas market in Russia and deep divergences in rules and regulations between the member states. Because of this, the prospects for the Russian energy project remain dim.

"Against this background, the REMIT initiative is more pragmatic and institutionalized," the SVR said.

The World Bank estimates that by 2050 it could bring up to $15 billion in economic benefits to the region, becoming one of the biggest infrastructure breakthroughs in Central Asia in recent decades.

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