Abstract

The Russia-Ukraine war has triggered the fragmentation and reorganization of power on the Eurasian continent. This war also had a profound impact on the domestic politics and foreign policies of Russia's Central Asian neighbors. The article constructs an analytical framework for elite preferences, domestic politics and public opinions. Then, the article measured the public opinion of the Kyrgyz people on the Russia-Ukraine war and official voting data at the United Nations General Assembly, while collecting materials from Central Asia, and finds that the Kyrgyz people's attitudes towards the war are complex compared to the preferences of official elites. On the one hand, contrary to the official abstention vote in the UN General Assembly condemning Russia, a large number of Kyrgyz people do not support Russia's military action. On the other hand, a considerable proportion of Kyrgyz people hold a neutral attitude towards the Russo-Ukrainian war. The consensus of neutrality among the public and elites stems from a consideration of individual and national interests, including factors such as migration workers, geopolitical security, and Western sanctions. Kyrgyzstan's pluralistic discourse society after its democratic transition provides space for accommodating both consistency and differences in public opinions and elite preferences.