A. B. LIKHACHEVA Graduate student at the National Research University Higher School of Economics Keywords: water and energy problem of Central Asia, hydrohegemony, Rogun hydroelectric power station, hydroelectric power industry, Russia, China, Iran The object of research in this article is relations between Russia, China, Iran and the countries of post - Soviet Central Asia (CA) on the key issue for the region-building a water and energy balance. The article does not cover the China-Kazakhstan-Russia water axis, since in this case we are talking about a single international basin (whose problems are interesting in themselves and deserve a separate study). In the autumn of 2012, for the first time in the entire post-Soviet period, the water and energy balance in Central Asia was being developed intensively. Of course, a number of steps have been taken to solve the region's water problem over the past 20 years. But only now has the dialogue on this topic moved beyond the borders of the five Central Asian republics-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Why did this happen and why exactly in 2012? There are several reasons. First, the international community is increasingly concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and how it may develop after the upcoming withdrawal of the NATO contingent from this country. This increases attention to the situation in Central Asia as a whole, as a buffer region, in fact.1 And building a water and energy balance is a key issue that determines the sustainability of the internal situation in the region. Secondly, the need for cheap hydropower for both Russia and China has now become clear. Iran needs large volumes of water for the development of nuclear power 2, since this industry is the leader in water consumption, because it requires huge water reserves to cool its facilities. Over the past 20 years, all attempts to resolve the "water" issue at the intraregional level, or with the involvement of a third pa ... Read more