Until last year, ethnic Kyrgyz people were able to cross into neighboring Kyrgyzstan with their Tajik passports. Now they must first travel to a third country, an option few can afford.
Putin hijacked a summit in Kazakhstan to spread a conspiracy theory, undermining his host’s efforts to get the world to take a grouping of Asian leaders seriously.
A man who tried against all odds to build a successful business on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border was killed in fighting last month. Matisa Nadyrov told Eurasianet of his dreams just a few months ago.
The move comes as the fate of the de facto state appears ever more precarious, and it is not clear what Ruben Vardanyan’s wealth, authority, or Moscow connections might mean.
The country would spend 47 percent more on defense in 2023, as Azerbaijan continues to bolster its own military and Russia, Armenia’s security guarantor, is bogged down in Ukraine.