President Putin denies that Russia welcomes Britain’s vote to leave the EU – but it offers a possibility of weakened sanctions and a shift in power relations

For a quarter of a century, water, land and ethnic conflicts have poisoned ties between the five ’stans. Now, even as the U.K. pulls away from the European Union, and other countries in the bloc mull their future in it, Central Asian nations are opening up to one another, taking steps to establish what in a few years could amount to their version of a Schengen zone.