Russia is pressuring Ukraine to join Belarus and Kazakhstan in a Eurasian Customs Union led by Moscow. Acquiescing to Russia's wishes would anchor Ukraine in a Moscow-dominated economic zone and impose higher tariffs on Ukrainian trade with the European Union. Russia also wants Ukraine to join the Joint Economic Space, the Eurasian Union, and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. This integration would recreate the geography of the Soviet Union and the Russian empire, strengthening and emboldening Moscow as a global geopolitical actor. It is in the national interest of the United States to prevent Ukraine from becoming a Russian satellite and a key member of a Moscow-dominated sphere of influence. The U.S. needs to assist Ukraine and its European partners in derailing Russia's pressure tactics for bringing Ukraine into Moscow's orbit.

The country is poised to lead on everything from controlling nuclear weapons to energy security. Upon gaining its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan became the world's fourth largest nuclear power, only to voluntarily renounce its entire atomic arsenal shortly thereafter. We closed the world's second largest nuclear test site, blended down three tons of highly enriched uranium for peaceful use and helped establish a "nuclear weapon free zone" across Central Asia – one that now serves as a model for regions around the world, including the Middle East.

Kremlin kingpin Vladimir Putin's pet project to drive former Soviet states back into Moscow's embrace – via the Customs Union — is gathering momentum. But the possibility of expansion doesn't thrill all the union's current members.

The family of an exiled Kazakh tycoon accused of fraud filed a lawsuit in Italy on Wednesday against three diplomats for the alleged illegal extradition of his wife and daughter to Kazakhstan. Mukhtar Ablyazov's daughter Madina accuses the diplomats in the lawsuit, including Adrian Yelemessov, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Italy, of "aggravated kidnapping" over the incident.

Economic cooperation between the EU member states and the Central Asian republics has expanded steadily beyond its initial focus on energy resources. But besides new perspectives in trade, the EU is also increasingly becoming the site for criminal investigations against individuals from Central Asia like Rahat Aliev, the Kazakhstani former presidential son-in-law is currently accused of not only white-collar crime, but also murder and abduction.

One of Kazakhstan's few remaining opposition leaders has announced that he is quitting politics, a move that comes amid Astana's ongoing crackdown on dissent and leaves a dearth of dissenting voices in the country. Bolat Abilov said in a statement quoted by Tengri News on September 19 that he had taken the "difficult decision" to leave politics (at least for a few years) and concentrate on media, movie and book projects around Kazakhstan.