MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - The event in Kyrgyzstan have caused corrections in the United States' policy in Central Asia and in relations with Russia in this region, believes Sergei Rogov, director of the U.S. and Canada Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"I think the events in Kyrgyzstan have caused corrections in the United States' policy in Central Asia. What has happened in Bishkek has taken America unawares because the scenario of the developments was unlike what Washington has expected. When the market-place invaded squares in Bishkek, America got somewhat startled", Rogov told a RIA Novosti press conference on Wednesday.
In recent time, "it looks like Russia and the United States are conducting in countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States 'zero-sum games' and the United States is seeking to beef up its influence at the expense of weakening the Russian positions", the expert said.
"But the developments in Kyrgyzstan have made many people in America think whether Russia should be played with", he noted.
What will happen "if power in the Central Asian republics is seized by radical elements or present power in Kyrgyzstan fails to stay", Rogov wonders. "The version that democrats can keep the situation in hand is barely probable".
"Hence, a vision of new types of Russian-American interaction in the region is surfacing", he noted.
To Rogov, Russia and the United States now have two common interests in approaching the situation in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia in general, he said.
"First, neither Russia nor the United States are interested in the fundamentalist forces coming to power in Kyrgyzstan, chaos reigning in the country. Second, there is a possibility that, if chaos remains there, Kyrgyzstan will fall apart. Neither Russia nor the United States want that", Rogov said.
"Our common interest is that the state does not disintegrate and Kyrgyzstan remains as a single whole", he concluded.
