Eurasianet

In our weekly briefing: Restrictions easing, COVID denialism persists, foreign suitors come visiting in hope of business, and the latest annual horse jamboree.

The billionaire had bought his stake only months ago from the president’s son-in-law.

Businesspeople worry that Kazakh reliance on Russian export routes is going to harm the economy.

In recent years the Caucasus country has become a magnet for Iranian students, business owners, and dissidents. But now many report they’re not being allowed to enter.

With an art school and international animation festival, a Georgian Orthodox bishop is trying to revive a village on the de facto border with South Ossetia.

Iran and Georgia considered as alternatives.

Iranians have been flooding into Armenia to get COVID vaccines, causing Tehran to complain and Yerevan to tighten the rules.

Reform of the judiciary seen as a top priority.

A facile and naïve plan being discussed in Washington risks backfiring on Iran’s minority Christians.

The president bets on a big infrastructure program to reinvigorate his political fortunes.

Many in the territory blame the rising numbers of coronavirus cases on the authorities’ decision to open up to Russian tourists.

Independent Ukraine has held only one census, almost 20 years ago.

The territory's public health officials have warned against opening up to tourism, and the arrival of tourists has coincided with a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.

Realignment would put the EU on sounder economic footing, and reduce the possibility of Chinese economic bullying down the road.