MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. The collective West seeks to open a second front against Russia in Central Asia to inflict a strategic defeat on Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said.

"Central Asia - just like the entire post-Soviet space - is currently the object of the West’s hostile policy aimed at inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, driving Russia out of the region and, ideally, opening the much-talked-about ‘second front’ against us there," the senior diplomat pointed out at a roundtable hosted by the Federation Council’s (upper house of parliament) committees on foreign affairs and security.

According to Galuzin, this policy from the West is marked by "attempts to get Central Asian nations join sanctions and isolate Russia once and for all," and "restore their military and intelligence presence in the region, primarily citing the fight against the terrorist threat coming from Afghanistan." The deputy foreign minister also pointed to the West’s strategy of building "transport and logistics routes from Asia to Europe through the Central Asian region that aim to bypass Russia."

The senior diplomat also said that Western countries sought to drive Russia "out of major projects to use the region’s rich natural resources, namely oil, gas and uranium, among others. This indicates "the West’s intent to destroy the entire range of Russia’s traditional relations with Central Asian countries," Galuzin stressed.

"Notably, Central Asian nations understand that Western sanctions on Russia are unjustified and illegitimate but they are forced to take heed of the West’s policy of restrictions and signal their unwillingness to take sanctions-related risks. This certainly poses a serious challenge to our interests in the region," the high-ranking diplomat concluded.