In order to put pressure on Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan withdraws from the power grid linking the region. Power lines from Turkmenistan deliver electricity to Tajikistan while Uzbek power supplies both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Without steady supplies, these impoverished and mountainous countries will face severe shortages and unheated homes. Kyrgyzstan will get humanitarian assistance from Kazakhstan for the short term, but both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan need to update their own transmission lines in order to secure the needs of their population. Replacing the Soviet-era grid requires a lot of money that these countries don’t quite have, though Kyrgyzstan’s Russian-aid windfall could certainly be put toward this.
Uzbekistan recently completed domestic projects updating their electricity grid, rendering them self-sufficient. Now it wants to increase pressure on its neighbors in order to get exactly what it wants in regards to dam projects, etc. It will still suffer shortages at peak hours, but it is on its way to energy independence. Turkmenistan achieved electricity independence in 2003. For more information on how the Soviet Union built failure into the infrastructure of Central Asia, Jamestown Foundation has an excellent article.
