TRANSFORMATION OF U.S. AND EU POLICY TOWARD CENTRAL ASIA IN 2022–2026: GEOPOLITICAL AND GEOECONOMIC PRIORITIES

The article provides a comprehensive examination of the transformation of United States and European Union policy toward Central Asia amid changes in the international political configuration following the beginning of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to identify the geopolitical and strategic substance of the intensification of Western engagement in the region, its institutional, geoeconomic, resource-related, and security priorities, as well as the impact of these processes on the foreign policy manoeuvring of the Central Asian states. The methodological framework combines comparative, historical-political, and institutional approaches, together with an analysis of strategies, declarations, international agreements, and statistical data. It is argued that, prior to 2022, Central Asia remained an area of limited engagement for the United States and the European Union because of Russia’s dominant position, institutionalised through the CIS, the CSTO, and the EAEU, as well as China’s growing influence through the Belt and Road Initiative, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the China–Central Asia format. The study establishes that Russia’s war against Ukraine increased the strategic importance of the region as a source of critical raw materials, a space for alternative transport connectivity, and an area of enhanced control over sanctions circumvention. Under the administration of Joe Biden, geoeconomic, resource-related, and transport priorities gained greater weight in U.S. policy toward Central Asia, while its normative and security components were preserved. Under Donald Trump, reductions in programmes supporting democratic institutions were accompanied by a more pronounced trade-oriented and mercantilist approach focused on trade agreements, U.S. exports, access to strategic resources, and transport and technology projects. It is demonstrated that EU policy evolved from the normative and development-oriented model of the 2007 strategy, through the increasing pragmatisation of its approach in 2019, toward an operational model of investment and infrastructure cooperation embodied in the Global Gateway initiative, the 2023 Roadmap, support for the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor, the first EU–Central Asia Summit in 2025, and projects in the fields of critical raw materials, digital infrastructure, water, energy, and climate. The article concludes that the growing engagement of the United States and the European Union broadens the scope for multi-vector foreign policies among the states of the region but does not provide a rapid alternative to Russian and Chinese influence because of persistent economic, security, and infrastructure dependencies. For Ukraine, these developments highlight the need for a pragmatic policy toward Central Asia focused on logistics, energy, agricultural cooperation, education, digital solutions, and post-war reconstruction.