# Uzbekistan > [!info] Gateway page > One of the fifteen former Soviet republics compared at [[Post-Soviet States]]. **Uzbekistan**, Central Asia's most populous state, has twice joined and twice left Russia's military alliance, stays out of its customs union, and in 2026 began visibly cooling on Moscow while courting both Washington and Beijing. It is the most autonomous state in Central Asia. | Item | Detail | |---|---| | Independence | 31 August 1991 (celebrated 1 September) | | Head of state | President Shavkat Mirziyoyev | | Head of government | Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov | | CSTO | Original 1992 signatory; left 1999, rejoined 2006, left again 2012 | | Other Russia-led blocs | CIS member; [[Eurasian Economic Union]] observer only, since 11 December 2020 | | Other blocs | [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]] | | Russian forces | None known | | Population | About 38.4 million (April 2026) | ## Signs of cooling - **Rosatom.** The planned Jizzakh nuclear plant (about $9.5 billion, [[Rosatom]] reactors including small modular units) has slipped. In September 2026 Mirziyoyev called for "leading international engineering companies" without naming Rosatom and complained that local content stood at 21%. - **The readout.** The Kremlin's account of the 31 August 2026 Putin–Mirziyoyev meeting ran to one sentence; Eurasianet reported that Tashkent had refused to help produce or repair arms for the war in Ukraine *[single-sourced]*. ## The other partners At the 6 November 2025 White House C5+1 summit Uzbekistan signed [[Critical Minerals]] memoranda with U.S. firms, and its national airline joined Kazakh and Tajik carriers in ordering Boeing jets. It is a partner in the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railway with [[Kyrgyzstan]] and [[China]]. ## Where it stands with Moscow Autonomous — rhetorically still an "allied" partner of Russia, structurally outside both of Moscow's integration projects, and diversifying away from it in the one sector (nuclear power) where Russia had a lead. ## See Also - [[Post-Soviet States]] — all fifteen former republics compared - [[Kyrgyzstan]] - [[Kazakhstan]] - [[Shanghai Cooperation Organisation]]