Eurasia / Features
PANNIER: Barbed wire gives lie to talk of Kyrgyz-Tajik border deal symbolising “eternal friendship”
It’s a pitiful sight in the beautiful Ferghana Valley, where, in thousands of years of habitation, a formal frontier never existed.
Tensions flare in Azerbaijan–Russia ties despite Patriarch’s visit
Mixed messages as an Azerbaijani ruling party MP is refused entry to Russia while President Ilham Aliyev hosts Patriarch Kirill in Baku.
“Lost” Ottoman era painting reappears at Sotheby’s London, sold for a million at auction
Osman Hamdi Bey’s 1881 work Kahve Hazirlamak was bought by a Georgian prince around 1910. Its whereabouts became a mystery.
After Samarkand summit, Europe’s quest for Central Asian resources meets reality
Playing long game for rare earths.
Trump policies won’t harm Emerging Europe badly – and will actively benefit Russia
Latest wiiw forecasts show little direct impact on Central and Southeast Europe from Trump trade wars.
Will quiet Sino-Russian stranglehold damn West’s moves to source more uranium from Kazakhstan?
Brief halt at Kazakh-Canadian producer sparks investor concern and suspicion over Moscow factor.
COMMENT: Business and Government in a new partnership for Uzbekistan’s future
Just a decade ago, the idea of building a modern ski resort in Uzbekistan felt like wishful thinking. Its snow-capped mountains were admired for their beauty, but few imagined they could attract international tourists, athletes or investors.
INTERVIEW: Georgian opposition leader Giorgi Vashadze
Vashadze regards the incumbent Georgian Dream government as a “double-faced” Kremlin agent: ostensibly committed to Western integration, but in reality deliberately sabotaging Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future in favour of closer ties with Russia.
China exports Xi Jinping Thought to Mongolia
Centuries of deep-rooted mistrust of Chinese mean many Mongolians will see release of translated key works as nothing more than propaganda.
URUS-ClearPic: The Big Four of US, China, Russia and Europe vie for investment in Central Asia
Historically, it is the ultimate crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia – and the central component for most of the Silk Road. Now the Central Asian countries find themselves caught between the Big Four.
Azerbaijan’s president eyes China as key strategic partner
Baku is deepening ties with Beijing ahead of President Ilham Aliyev’s upcoming state visit to China as it seeks partners outside Western-dominated frameworks.
Armenia courts African countries to supply diamond industry
Armenia is seeking partnerships with African producers of rough diamonds to ensure a stable supply for its diamond processing industry and diversify away from sanctions-hit Russian suppliers.
Boosting Mongolia’s democracy with reform remains an uphill battle
Cohort of lawmakers want to strip away rules and regulations that have put democratic values in a chokehold. Elite accused of copy-pasting Chinese system.
PANNIER: Turkmenistan follows the rise and rise of Arkadag’s eldest daughter Oguljahan Atabayeva
Rate of ascent appears to make her odds-on for speaker of parliament role.
Measuring impact of US tariffs on Central Asia and South Caucasus
Little near-term pain, but lots of uncertainty about future.
EU joins ‘Klondike’ rush for Central Asia critical minerals as bloc and region upgrade relations
Kazakhstan boasts 19 out of 34 types of critical raw materials seen as essential to EU economy, while the five 'stans' have 40% of the world’s reserves of manganese.
Jury remains out on Tokayev’s “de-oligarchisation” of Kazakhstan
Government talks of having recovered ill-gotten gains amounting to a few billion dollars. Sceptics think it should have a few billion more to boast about by now.
EU-Central Asia: Preparing for first-of-its-kind summit aimed at bolstering trade
Caution evident in build-up to gathering.
Democracy nosedives as authoritarian grip tightens on Georgia
Brutal police crackdowns on pro-EU street protesters have given way to a targeted campaign of repression seemingly intent on throttling every dimension of the Georgian civil resistance movement.
Halyk pushes forward Kazakhstan’s digital banking revolution
Kazakhstan’s oldest financial institution has developed a digital ecosystem that integrates banking with government services and lifestyle features.