Russian Spheres of Interest and the Question of Kyrgyzstan

The war between Russia and Georgia in August of 2008 revealed many tensions between Russia and the west. One of the most significant of these issues was the Russian belief in “spheres of privileged interests.” According to this view, which Russian president Dmitri Medvedev spelled out very clearly in September of 2008, because it is a major regional power, Russia should have special rights in its part of the world including much of the former Soviet Union. This was meant as both a post facto justification for Russia’s actions in the Georgia war as well as a statement about Russia’s intentions going forward. Russia, according to Medvedev, was going to reassert itself as the dominant power in the region, which was an implicit warning to the U.S. to tone down its involvement in the former Soviet Union.