Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Policy: Color Revolutions and the Choice of Priorities

The emergence of color revolutions in post-Soviet countries in the 2000s created conditions for a change in the balance of power in the region. Kyrgyzstan is just one of the Central Asian countries facing revolutionary upheavals, but unlike Georgia and Ukraine, it has not changed its foreign policy priorities in favor of the West, and the state still maintains close political relations with Russia. The article analyzes the influence of external and internal factors on the foreign policy of the Kyrgyz Republic, identifying trends and prospects for its transformation during the periods of political instability in the country. The author argues that the change of political regimes in Kyrgyzstan destabilizes foreign policy relations with global and regional players but does not lead to radical transformations in the country’s foreign policy. The new color revolutions and the change of the political regimes in Kyrgyzstan, due to the existing geopolitical and socioeconomic ties with Russia, strengthen Bishkek’s dependence on Moscow and the influence of the latter in the interstate relations. Nevertheless, attempts to establish a democratic regime and liberalize sociopolitical life in the country are becoming an important prerequisite for the development of Kyrgyzstan’s relations with Western countries, that ultimately push for a new search for national identity.