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Screengrab of video footage of a demonstrator throwing an egg at a car in President Rahmon's convoy.

Tajikistan: Authorities use relatives as pawns against exiled activists

Government proxies have ceased to pretend the practice isn't ubiquitous.

Oct 4, 2023

Dushanbe is, like all other Central Asian capitals, seeing a major construction boom. (Photo: Eurasianet)

EurasiaChat: Intrigue in Central Asia's ruling palaces

In the latest edition of EurasiaChat, impressions from Tajikistan, Russian soft power, Turkmen foreign policy, and tales of elite infighting.

Alisher Khamidov, Aigerim Toleukhanova, Peter Leonard, EurasiaChat Oct 2, 2023

Tajikistan is eager to project its military strength amid recurrent border tensions. (Photo: Presidential administration)

Tajikistan hands control over border airports to armed forces

The airports have lain largely idle since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Sep 27, 2023

Pan Yue (right), the head of China’s State Committee for Nationalities Affairs, and Aida Balayeva, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Culture, hold copies of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between their agencies signed on September 18. (Photo: gov.kz)

Xinjiang crackdown downplayed during Chinese nationalities rep’s visit to Kazakhstan

An update on recent developments in Chinese-Central Asian affairs.

China-Central Asia Monitor Sep 22, 2023

Former President Nazarbayev with Samat Abish at an official ceremony seen in an undated screengrab.

Kazakhstan: Investigation into ex-president’s nephew signals new turn in elite infighting

Analysts believe this case indicates that President Tokayev feels more confident in his authority.

Almaz Kumenov Sep 20, 2023

Japarov and Rahmon meeting in New York. (Photo: Tajik presidential administration)

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan presidents meet to tamp down border tensions

The head of the Kyrgyz security services sparked alarm by asserting that Bishkek was willing to uphold its territorial claims through force.

Sep 20, 2023

Missing out: All the Central Asia presidents minus one, Kyrgyzstan's Sadyr Japarov, seen in Dushanbe last week. (Photo: Tajik presidential press service)

EurasiaChat: Speaking truth to (and about) power

Kyrgyzstan's Media Struggles, Electricity Woes, and Uzbekistan's Religious Discourse.

EurasiaChat, Alisher Khamidov, Aigerim Toleukhanova, Peter Leonard Sep 18, 2023

A train leaves China’s Zhangjiakou for Uzbekistan’s Tashkent on August 29. In late August, PRC opened two new freight rail routes to Uzbekistan as part of an effort to expand Europe-bound export route options. (Photo: Xinhua)

China mobilizing Central Asia’s support on Taiwan issue

An update on recent developments in Chinese-Central Asian affairs.

China-Central Asia Monitor Sep 8, 2023

Tajikistan: Terrorism, slander, corruption claims swirl in latest sign of elite infighting

An old friend of the security services and police chiefs has been dragged into a tussle with the newly powerful General Prosecutor.

Sep 8, 2023

Kazakhstan unveiled prototypes of four different drone models produced in cooperation with China. (Photo: Ratel.kz)

Central Asia: Could Kazakh-Chinese joint venture export drones to Russia?

Our weekly update on recent developments in Chinese-Russian-Central Asian affairs.

China-Central Asia Monitor Aug 30, 2023

Kyrgyz soldiers by a Belarus-made Pechora-2 BM air defense missile system. Belarus has emerged as one of Kyrgyzstan’s newest arms purveyors amid the latter’s simmering tensions with Tajikistan. (Photo: president.kg)

Perspectives: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan building up for another potential round of fighting

An unusual constellation of outside players taking shape.

Svenja Petersen Aug 28, 2023

Turkmenistan remains the largest supplier of pipeline gas to China, but Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan also made the top 5. (Photo: Samruk-Kazyna)

Central Asia: Quiet flows the natural gas from Eurasia to China

An update on recent developments in Chinese-Russian-Central Asian affairs.

China-Central Asia Monitor Aug 24, 2023

Chinese-made DJI Agras T30 drones. Just over a dozen such drones being shipped by a Kyrgyz company bound for Russia were intercepted by the Kazakh customs. (Photo: YouTube screenshot)

Kyrgyzstan: President pushes back on US accusations of sanctions-busting behavior

Amid denials there is a hint of Kyrgyz willingness to step up export controls.

Justin Burke Aug 16, 2023

A sticker pasted over a Russian-language poster in Yerevan, Armenia, part of a street-intervention initiative called “Decolonize Yourself/This Wall.” The campaign is being carried out by activists from the School of the Complex Past in the Armenian capital. (Courtesy School of Complex Past)

Perspectives: “We have common traumas, but no common memory”

Decolonization activism is on the rise in what Russia considers its traditional backyard

Barbara von Ow-Freytag Aug 16, 2023

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov (center right) and China’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Du Dewen, speak during a recent tour of the Sary-Jaz River where Kyrgyzstan is aiming to build a hydropower project with Chinese assistance. (Photo: gov.kg)

Central Asia: Low water levels on Irtysh River create quandary for Kazakhstan