MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. The loyal attitude of the five Central Asian neighbors (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) to the Russian side will be a priority for Moscow against the background of the escalating situation in Afghanistan and loss of constructive agenda with some of the other participants of the post-Soviet space, the president of the Russian Institute of the World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Alexander Dynkin reported on Monday at the Russian-German Potsdam Meetings forum.

The specialist reminded that the post-Soviet space is divided into three European, three Caucasian and five Central Asian countries. According to him, the European and Transcaucasian "troika" includes "one country each which is hostile to Moscow and which affects all the international positioning of Russia," (Ukraine and Georgia — TASS).

"We should — all efforts have been undertaken for that — not accept the same pattern among these five Central Asian countries," he said.

Dynkin stated that the Russian border with Kazakhstan with more than 7,500 km long "is absolutely open" as opposed to the Russian-Chinese border, for example. "So, for five-ten years, policy toward Central Asian countries will be the focus of attention for Moscow, especially against the background of what happened in Afghanistan," he added.

German vector

Dynkin also touched upon the Russian-German relations in the context of the Bundestag elections held on September 26 in Germany, where the Social Democratic Party (SPD) won, securing 25.7% of the votes. "From my point of view, the SPD’s victory in the elections represents a major change. We have been closely following the discussion of a coalition agreement. This is such a devastating, stressful process. Suffice it to say that there are 22 working groups there."

He pointed out that "the SPD tries to stand for new Eastern policy. "We know who hinders this, we see which compromises take place. Surely, this process is very interesting, but in my opinion, innovations will prevail over continuity," Dynkin concluded.

Ukrainian issue

The expert also drew attention to the stalled work in the Normandy format on the settlement of the conflict in Donbass. "The Normandy format is frozen, stood still. We often speak about this with the Americans. From my point of view, they are more productive than Berlin or Paris," he added.