This book highlights the nodal directions of the evolution of relations between Russia and the neighboring states of Central Asia in the period of the 9th - early 19th centuries, their role in the formation, development and formation of a single geopolitical space. The strengthening of the Old Russian state, the consolidating role of Moscow Russia after the collapse of the Golden Horde, the "eastern course" of Ivan IV the Terrible and Peter the Great, its importance in building ties with the Khiva Khanate (Khorezm), the Bukhara emirate, Kazakhstan, Balkh, Persia and Afghanistan, and other regions of the neighboring East are considered. The concepts of the Western scientific school on the issue of the "colonialist" and "aggressive" nature of Russia's eastern policy, its "imperial ambitions" in Central Asia were critically analyzed.