Eurasianet

While clumsy on COVID-19, Turkmenistan is being more sure-footed, or consistent at least, on the Afghanistan front. Plus, unsustainable agriculture. Our weekly briefing.

The government signals it is taking COVID a bit more seriously, without admitting the virus is running rampant. And Ashgabat gets down to business with the Taliban. This and more in our weekly briefing.

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.

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.

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

Dushanbe is desperate to resume flights to Russian cities.

Spraying chlorine, new infrastructure on the Afghan border, and claims of a naturally occurring COVID vaccine. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan bulletin.

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan are taking triumphalist stances on coronavirus.

Food prices have jumped this year and there are few jobs, but out-of-work migrants can’t get to where they are desperately needed.

5,000 people are taking part in the trials.

Trials for a domestically developed QazCovid-in vaccine are not expected to be completed until March.

Travel bans, dams and Russian fans. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

Officials say Uzbekistan plans to produce its own vaccine when tests are done.

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