While Vladimir Putin is the center of Russian political life, the policies of the Kremlin continue to be shaped and influenced by a number of powerful political actors. In order to fully understand Russia’s relations with the South Caucasus and Central Asia, onlookers should be sure to follow the activities of a diverse group of Russian elites.  

Sergey Kiriyenko  

Having emerged in recent years as one of the most important members of the Putin regime, Sergey Kiriyenko’s formal role is as the Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration. In addition to overseeing a wide and diverse portfolio in Russia, Kiriyenko’s role in regional policy has seen a marked expansion since 2022. A turning point in his career came when, following a one-on-one meeting with Putin, Kiriyenko was placed in charge of entrenching Russian rule across the Donbas and southern coast of Ukraine.  

More recently, his position has also evolved to include Russia’s malign activities in the South Caucasus. In 2025, Kiriyenko was seemingly placed in charge of Kremlin policy toward Georgia’s occupied territories. In the aftermath of last year’s Abkhazia-crisis, Kiriyenko visited the region, outlining Moscow’s policy priorities for the separatist-run territory, and helped elect Badra Gunba, Moscow’s choice candidate, to the region’s de facto presidency.
 

Following Gunba’s election, Kiriyenko has made additional visits to Abkhazia, helping to further intertwine the economies of Russia and the small region. He has likewise become one of the Kremlin’s representatives to South Ossetia, visiting this April to announce new Russian investments and projects.  

Additionally, in late April, Russian news-daily Vedomosti reported that Kiriyenko had been tasked with running information influence campaigns in Armenia in anticipation of next year’s parliamentary elections, demonstrating the extent to which Kiriyenko is now the Kremlin’s man when it comes to the Caucasus. Between 2005 and 2016 Kiriyenko also led Russia’s state-nuclear firm, Rosatom, which has long been involved in the operation of Armenia’s sole nuclear power plant.  

Alexey Miller 

A huge component of Russia’s relationship with Central Asia and the South Caucasus relates to energy in general, and gas in particular. In this regard, Alexey Miller, the CEO of the state-owned Gazprom, is a major figure in Russia-Caspian regional ties. 

Central Asian states in particular suffer from regular energy deficits and appear to have made the calculation that deeper ties with Russian energy are preferable to the regular blackouts that have long afflicted the region. In September 2024, Miller announced that Gazprom has doubled its supply to Central Asia following Miller signing or overseeing gas agreements with Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan that summer.  Miller frequently hosts high-level Central Asian officials. In January, he met for talks with Roman Sklyar, Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Prime Minister, where the two sides agreed to increase energy cooperation.  

Miller’s role in the South Caucasus is likewise notable, having overseen Gazprom establishing a monopoly over all gas infrastructure in Armenia and continuing to earmark large investments for projects in Armenia. In neighboring Azerbaijan, Miller has also been at the forefront of Gazprom’s relations, meeting with officials from the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) throughout 2024 in an effort to expand Gazprom-SOCAR cooperation, culminating in a strategic partnership between the two state-firms. 

Vyacheslav Volodin 

A Russian elite with long-standing ties to Russia’s Presidential Administration, Vyacheslav Volodin is often at the forefront of Russian policies abroad. Currently chairman of the State Duma, Volodin heads up much of the parliament-to-parliament relationships that make up a great deal of the engagement between Russia and Central Asia in particular.  

Volodin additionally represents Russia in a number of regional intergovernmental formats, including as the long-time Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Russia’s security grouping that includes Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union State– the initiative aiming at forming a single state of Belarus and Russia. In recent weeks Volodin has visited Kyrgyzstan to hold discussions with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov. 

Volodin's influence is also felt in policy and rhetoric relating to migration, advocating that Russia should only allow in migrants who have knowledge of Russian language and traditions. He has been at the forefront of efforts passing laws easing the deportation of migrants. Volodin’s views have sparked backlash in some corners of Central Asia, with prominent Uzbek parliamentarian Alisher Qodirov responding that if Russia were to implement Volodin’s views, Uzbekistan should pass similar laws targeting non-Uzbek speakers and non-Uzbek media.  

Leonid Kalashnikov

Alongside Volodin, Leonid Kalashnikov leads much of Russia’s interparliamentary engagement in Central Asia. As the chairman of the Duma committee on Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots. Kalashnikov is regularly at the forefront of relations between Russia and neighboring states, having frequent inter-parliamentary summits with CIS or CSTO countries and meeting with CIS heads of state or other officials.  

Kalashnikov has additionally been involved in parliamentary initiatives outside of the CIS. This includes a short-lived Russia-Georgia Parliamentary Dialogue in 2019 comprising fringe explicitly pro-Russian parties from Georgia. In contrast, something with seemingly greater potential, Kalashnikov recently announcementedthe creation of a BRICS inter-parliamentary forum and conference. He has additionally spoken in favor of parliamentary cooperation with the Global South more broadly.