While the country's authoritarian rulers are utterly indifferent to political freedoms, how the investment regime is perceived is another matter. Our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.
The election of an independent ombudsperson through a transparent process was among the 12 conditions the country must fulfill to become an EU membership candidate.
The ruling party promised it would go through all formal procedures to defeat one of the bills, which already passed in the first reading. That will take more than 10 days though.
News reported last week about Uzbekistan preparing to accommodate Russian gas in its pipelines may not have been true, despite officials initially stating otherwise.
Georgia's ruling party cites the U.S. in defense of its controversial bills on foreign agents, but critics argue the nation is learning from the worst.
Bakhtiyar Hajiyev is recovering from a 51-day hunger strike, while activists say cybercrime against him has "endangered the lives" of women he interacted with.