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Конкуренты или партнеры? Кавказ, Оренбург и Туркестан в присоединении Средней Азии к России (конец 1860-х — начало 1880-х гг.)
The article is a study of specific interaction between regional administrations of the Russian Empire which
participated in the accession of Caspian Sea regions of Central Asia to Russia — Caucasian namestnichestvo
(region ruled by governor general), Orenburg Governor-Generalship, Turkestan Governor-Generalship. The
author finds that the effectiveness of Russian imperial policy in Central Asia depended in many respects on the
personal relations of regional rulers, their ambitions and pretensions on the key role in the realization of this policy.
Orenburg governor general N. A. Kryzhanovskiy understood that the role of his region in the accession of Central
Asia to Russia was quickly diminishing, while Caucasian governor general Grand Prince Mikhail Nikolaevich and Turkestan governor general K. P. von Kaufman, on the contrary, competed for leadership in the accession of
the Eastern Caspian region to Russia and didn’t want to concede; their conflicts resulted in actions contradictory
to the position of the neighboring region and, finally, in weakening of the position of Russia among Turkmen. At
the same time state authorities didn’t stimulate the confrontation of the regions (as some researchers suppose), but
attempted to coordinate their actions to change them into partners.