The countries of Central Asia are historically a zone of Russias interests. In the context of the current crisis in world politics and the economy, friendly countries are becoming a priority for the implementation of the geo-economic strategy of the Russian Federation. This strategy itself is changing, becoming more oriented towards pragmatic building of relations with countries regardless of their regional affiliation, but taking into account their attitude towards the Russian Federation. The states of the Central Asian region turned out to be one of the priority areas of the Russian foreign economic policy in a very short period of time, in connection with which today cooperation with them has the character of a chaotic search for opportunities to overcome sanctions. In this context, identifying opportunities for creating a geo-economic strategy and implementing a systematic approach to cooperation with Central Asia under sanctions pressure is an important task. Particular attention should be paid to how this strategy will affect the economic development of the Central Asian states, in particular poverty and its social effects on the region. As a result of the analysis, a number of recommendations were developed on the transformation of the Russian geo-economic strategy in Central Asia, aimed at maximizing the positive effects for both the Russian Federation and the Central Asian countries.