Eurasianet

That Central Asia's presidents seemed to enjoy themselves together was itself a breakthrough. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

The country already leads in vaccination rates in the South Caucasus. Many expect the new rules to drive a black market for fake vaccination passports.

Cases are rising rapidly and vaccines – for those who want them – are hard to find.

Vaccine hesitancy in Uzbekistan is high, bred by social media conspiracies that seem credible in a country without accountable authorities.

Our Kazakhstan correspondent describes the waiting, the bureaucracy, and the anticlimax of getting his Sputnik V jab in Almaty.

The health minister then drank the concoction at a press conference.

Although Turkmenistan is rarely mentioned as a prospective member of the Moscow-led EAEU trading bloc, that notion is quite obviously on the Kremlin’s mind. Our weekly briefing.

The region appears wholly unprepared for the latest rise in cases.

It can take four days to get to the front of the line at this bitterly cold pass almost two miles high.

Hopes are being pinned on the Sino-Uzbek vaccine ZF-UZ-VAC 2001.

Dushanbe is desperate to resume flights to Russian cities.

The coronavirus inoculation program is the first in the Caucasus and Central Asia, starting out with Chinese vaccines but incorporating Russian and Western ones at later stages.

Surabaldiyeva says "several thousand" people may have died.

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan are taking triumphalist stances on coronavirus.

The COVID-19 vaccination experiences of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia show that if you’re a small and poor country, you need to rely on powerful friends.