The visit of the new President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to Tashkent that took place on May 18-19 became the most important political event. Numerous articles in local and Russian mass media as well as unprecedented security measures undertaken in Tashkent during the visit became a serious evidence of its significance. "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" that traditionally shows its interest in the issues related to the Central Asia already back in April wrote that the President of Uzbekistan had to make uneasy choice: "Given that Uzbekistan prefers to remain a temporal power, whom should Uzbekistan rely on in its struggle against the Islam fundamentalism – Russia or the USA? This is the very issue that Islam Karimov wants to understand. No matter what they say about him, his heart is still reaching out for Russia with which there are connected many of his personal good memories.

The same very "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" just before the visit of Putin to Tashkent has published the article in which it was stated that Uzbekistan was considering Russia to be its main strategic ally. "This became absolutely obvious after the rather cool welcome accorded to Madeleine Albright, the Secretary of State of the USA, in Tashkent last month. The head of the American diplomatic agency was unequivocally given to understand that even for the sake of strengthening of cooperation with the USA, Uzbekistan was not going to compromise due to the numerous recommendations and instructions of Washington that was requiring to introduce significant adjustments in the policy of the country. In a polite, but rather firm manner the Secretary of State of the USA was given to understand that Uzbekistan was not going to unconditionally carry out the American "orders". It is unlikely that such a firmness could be possibly displayed at the very moment when as never before there was need for support from a "strong ally," if Uzbekistan were not sure that it was backed up by Russia whose promises could be trusted. To be more precise, one could trust the promises given personally by V. Putin to the Uzbek President I. Karimov." As for the Uzbek newspapers, they believed that the purpose of the visit was not only in solving the problem of Russia’s military assistance, but also in admitting the importance of Uzbekistan and the personality of its President. «The fact that the first visit of V.Putin to a foreign state after his election as a President will be his visit to Uzbekistan can be viewed as the admission of the significance of the role of Uzbekistan not only in the region, but also in CIS.»

The problems of securing the regional stability in the Central Asia and protection of the CIS’s Southern borders became especially critical recently. Naturally, Uzbekistan as well as the other countries of the region is looking for reliable allies in guaranteeing its security. The transit of drugs through Tajik-Afghan border became a bleeding wound, given that the President of Tajikistan Imomaly Rahmonov announced straight during the meeting of the Security Council that Tajikistan by itself would not be able to solve this problem. It is not the right choice, according to some people, to rely on the assistance from the USA, despite the numerous conferences and seminars dedicated to the problems of security. One of such periodical conferences of the five Central-Asian states with participation of the commander-in-chief of the central command of the USA army, general Anthony Zynny, started in Tashkent on the eve of the visit of Vladimir Putin. Some people believe that «Uzbekistan is not very happy with the fact that Washington, while proclaiming that it is ready to assist with the fight against extremists, is not very generous when it comes to the financial aid. This forces Tashkent to look at Moscow more and more often.»

Two full days that the Russian delegation headed by V. Putin has spent in Tashkent were rather saturated. According to informational agencies, the main attention was paid to the problems of international terrorism, religious extremism, and regional security. Unlike Russian newspapers that were mainly writing exclusively about the military-technical assistance of Moscow, Uzbek newspapers highlighted "mutually beneficial character of economic cooperation"; they were underlying that "this year during the first quarter the volume of trade turnover between the two countries has increased by 9%, and at present is equals to 1 – 1.5 billion dollars." At the end of his visit the Russian President has visited Tashkent Islam University that has been opened in 1999. This, most likely, became the demonstration of the clear understanding by Uzbekistan of the place of the Muslim religion in the life of the society.

The feed-back of the mass media of Uzbekistan on the visit of the Russian President was absolutely positive. It has been highlighted that the present visit will become the turning-point in the newest history of the relations between the two countries. Islam Karimov has underlined that in Uzbekistan "they are undoubtedly sure that if it becomes necessary, Russia will do everything to preserve territorial integrity and sovereignty of Uzbekistan." It was not by chance that Ram Vyahirev, the head of "Gazprom" was a member of the Russian delegation. "Gazprom" has concluded contracts on delivery of 5 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Russia as well as on carrying out of prospecting works of Russian geologists on the territory of the plateau Ustyurt.

Short after the visit on May 22 during the press-conference Sergey Yastrzhembskyi, an assistant of the President of Russia, said that Russia would not rule out for itself the possibility of preventively attacking the bases of terrorists in Afghanistan. Many considered these words to be sensational. However, according to Alexey Mironov, a journalist of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta," in Uzbekistan this statement did not surprise anybody. "Knowing the customs of religious fanatics, - the journalist writes, - the majority of the citizens of Uzbekistan realize that the real protection of the Central Asia from the international terrorism may be guaranteed not through negotiations, but only through very tough military pressure." Later on the President of Uzbekistan gave the following explanation to this statement in his interview to a correspondent of "Kommersant" newspaper: "As for the so called preventive attacks on the camps of talibs in Afghanistan, nobody is thinking that over seriously yet, even though Igor Ivanov mentioned about that again in Minsk….. I can reassure everybody, including Afghans: we are ready to do that in principle, however, specifically, this is so far only a touchstone. Nevertheless, it should be clear that by setting camps of terrorists on his own territory, one is violating the norms of the international law. This is dangerous for the side that acts as a host of the bandits."

In the same very interview Islam Karimov told about the reform of the military forces of Uzbekistan that is at the preparatory stage. Nowadays, according to the President, the army of Uzbekistan is already the strongest in the Central Asia. As for the future army, it will become even stronger. "It will be the army of specialized units; it will be non-numerous but powerful army. It will be striking army. However, this does not mean that we are aiming at fighting outside of our borders. I, as the President, may assure: our soldiers will not fight in Kabul. However, Russia needs a strong ally in the South, and it has it."

Thus, the visit of Vladimir Putin to Tashkent and the statement made later on by the assistant of the President of Russia regarding the possibility of preventive attacks on the camps of terrorists in Afghanistan, most likely were interrelated. Moscow by itself could not make such a statement without consulting with Tashkent, because that could be viewed as an attempt to destabilize the situation in the region, given that this situation was already rather insecure.

It is obvious that the presence of talibs on the Southern borders of SIC became nowadays a strong factor that has a positive impact on integration between Russia and Uzbekistan. The threat of military invasion at the territory of SIC countries is to the advantage of Russia, given that at present the countries of the Central Asia seem not to have any alternative for guaranteeing their security other then with the assistance of Russia. Thus, it is quiet possible that Russia may return to the Central Asia under the scenario where it has the role of not only the military-strategic, but also one of the most important economic partners. No matter how paradoxical it may seem, one may state that talibs quiet help Russia to achieve success in its geo-political game in the Central Asia. By re-phrasing the old proverb, one may say that if talibs did not exist, they would be worthy of making them up.