Turkmenistan is busily engaging with neighbors. Plus: Dancing diplomats and the president’s nephew liquidates a dodgy scheme after journalists exposed him. Our weekly briefing.
In his first public appearance following his surprise return to the country, arrest, and hunger strike, the ex-president brushed off the charges against him and issued an expansive defense of his time in power.
There was much to discuss just over a year after the end of the war, including ongoing border tensions, plans to reopen borders and transportation, and the fate of Armenian prisoners.
The question of whether Uzbekistan should join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, with its single market of 184 million people, has provoked fierce debates.
The dispute over where the former Georgian president should be treated became sharper as he briefly lost consciousness as a result of his hunger strike.