Information and Communication Triggers of Geopolitical Influence on the Countries of Central Asia

Annotation : Modern information and communication expansion is a tool of geopolitical influence, which is used along with military and economic expansion to achieve dominance in the target region. The article deals with the question of the West’s information and communication expansion in the Central Asian arena, where its collective strategy is focused on the maximum separation of these countries from the Russian Federation in order to hinder Russian influence and its integrating impact. The article analyzes the transformation of the strategies of relations between the US and the EU with the Central Asian countries in modern conditions. The main structures of Western information influence in Central Asia (the OSCE Academy, Internews Network International, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in Central Asia, the Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting (CABAR-Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting), EurasiaNet, etc.) are presented. The article concludes that the creation of a Western, primarily American, information impact infrastructure in the Central Asian region is a natural process, which can only be answered by the creation of a Russian infrastructure of this kind. The author, however, emphasizes that the best way to influence information could be joint practical activities and not aggressive propaganda, first in the humanitarian sphere, and then in other areas of mutual interest for all parties involved.