Central Asia looks beyond Russia's orbit to secure its future

ALMATY -- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon was bent on giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a piece of his mind.

At a summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana last month, Rahmon and Putin were seated around a circular table with other Central Asian leaders, separated by a large flower arrangement. The Tajik leader took aim at the Kremlin's inattention to "small republics" like his, the poorest of the Soviet successor states.