Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are striving to reduce their digital dependence on Russia and tilt their economic attention a bit more to the West. The two countries are moving forward with a plan to lay a fiber-optic cable beneath the Caspian Sea to establish a connection with Azerbaijan. At present, virtually all Kazakhstan’s and Uzbekistan’s Internet traffic passes through Russian-controlled systems. Uzbekistan’s Internet connections to the outside world even must pass through Kazakhstan before reaching Russia, where the Kremlin…