Far from being dropped, the EU’s sanctions regime should be broadened to include newly appointed officials who are part of the inner circle – and the president himself – and extended to freeze the assets of those on the visa ban list. While the hope for eventual normalisation of relations must not be abandoned, it should be Karimov who takes the first steps, not through token gestures but by genuine measures to improve the lives of his country’s citizens. Instead of reverting to an engagement policy that has failed, the EU should focus its energies and resources on doing what it can from the periphery to help Uzbeks, while building up resilience in the neighbouring states, all of whom are at risk from the instability that is increasingly being bred in Uzbekistan.