On April 21, Central Asia Barometer organized a live expert meeting in Bishkek to discuss the complexity of the relationship between the Russo-Ukrainian War, its public perceptions in the Central Asian region, and the effect this has on relations between the Central Asian countries and the European Union. The event comprised three main parts: a presentation of the Central Asia Barometer Survey data on the topic of the meeting; presentations by invited experts from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan; and online sessions with experts from the Netherlands, the USA, and Turkey. The entire event was also streamed on the Zoom platform, allowing the online audience to actively participate, ask questions, and react to everything that was happening live in the room.

The event was organized in partnership with the European Neighbourhood Council and supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

In the first part of the event, Tlegen Kuandykov, CAB Communications Officer, presented the public opinion data on the Russian-Ukrainian war collected by the Central Asia Barometer Survey in Waves 11 and 12. In particular, data was presented on the following questions:

• How much attention are you paying to the situation in Ukraine?
• In your view, who is mainly responsible for the situation in Ukraine? To what extent do you think Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is justified or unjustified?
• To what extent do you think Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is justified or unjustified?
• Do you think the situation in Ukraine will have a positive impact on our country, a negative impact, or no impact at all?
• In your opinion, what negative consequences for our country may arise from the situation in Ukraine? First Mention

The survey was conducted by random telephone dialing of randomly generated mobile phone numbers using a simple random sampling method, with a total of  1500 respondents. The survey is representative by region, age groups, gender, and urban and rural areas.  The survey geography was as follows: Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (waves 11 and 12), and Uzbekistan (Wave 11). Due to the sensitivity of the questions, this survey did not take place in Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, or Uzbekistan in Wave 12. The sensitivity factor should also be taken into account when interpreting the data. The full methodology is available on our website as well as on request.

Download the data presentation by clicking here: CAB 21st April Event Presentation.pdf