Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged pointed remarks at a Kremlin meeting on April 1, underscoring a widening rift between Yerevan and Moscow over Armenia’s political trajectory. The encounter — held as Armenia heads into a June 7 parliamentary election — covered everything from who may stand for parliament to Yerevan’s pursuit of closer ties with the European Union, and included a sharp rebuke from Pashinyan over Russia’s act

Uzbek Rights Groups Say Conditions Facing Cotton and Wheat Growers Signal Systemic Vulnerabilities A joint study by a local rights organization and an international watchdog has redirected scrutiny in Uzbekistan’s agricultural sector from seasonal harvest workers to the smallholders and farm operators who cultivate cotton and wheat, warning that many work under conditions that leave them exposed to coercion. The authors used established labor-risk criteria to assess the secto

BP is positioning itself as a key player in developing substantial energy deposits beneath the Ustyurt Plateau, a region that stretches across parts of western Kazakhstan and southern Uzbekistan, and officials and analysts say that could revive plans for a pipeline beneath the Caspian Sea to carry gas toward Europe. The company’s Kazakh subsidiary signed an exploration agreement on April 2 with the national oil company KazMunayGaz to survey a promising tract on the Kazakh sid

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan agreed this week to work together on developing their strategic mineral reserves, opening a formal channel for shared exploration, technology transfers and coordinated mining and processing efforts. Officials in Astana convened the first session of a bilateral working group on April 7 and said they will create a standing framework to plan joint surveys, swap geological and technical knowledge and line up outside financing. The meeting, the two govern

The fighting inside Iran is forcing governments in Central Asia to scramble for new ways to move goods, energy and data — and to pay more for the privilege. Traders and transport ministers from Kazakhstan to Turkmenistan are telling colleagues that routes through Iran, once prized for cutting weeks off voyages to the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East, have become unpredictable. As convoys and tankers face delays and higher security levies, freight forwarders are divertin

Azerbaijan’s president made a brief visit to Tbilisi this week that drew attention less for state-to-state diplomacy than for a short encounter with Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire often seen as Georgia’s informal decision-maker. The timing sharpened scrutiny: one day earlier Georgian authorities deported Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Sadygov, who was returned to Baku, briefly held and questioned before being freed. Human rights lawyers said the removal looked linked to e

South Korea and Japan are scrambling for new sources of refined fuels and crude oil after recent skirmishes around the Strait of Hormuz disrupted a key trade artery. A two-week truce brokered by Pakistan has eased the immediate threat of fighting, but Iran’s continued ability to oversee traffic through the strait has pushed importers to pursue alternatives in Central Asia and the Gulf. Seoul has moved quickly. Officials say roughly three-fifths of South Korea’s crude and just

A top law-enforcement operation in Bishkek this month has placed Shairbek Tashiyev — the brother of ex-security chief Kamchybek Tashiyev and a former member of the Jogorku Kenesh — at the center of a widening investigation into alleged corruption at the state oil company. Authorities say they detained Shairbek on April 1 after questioning at the Interior Ministry; a court on April 2 ordered him held until May 16, 2026. Officials allege nearly 4.1 billion soms went missing fro

Kazakhstan’s president lauded a newly announced ceasefire in the Middle East on Monday, singling out Pakistan’s leadership for its mediation and saying the pause in fighting could help revive commerce and ease economic pressures across the globe. In comments released by the presidential press office, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev welcomed the agreement and credited the negotiators — including Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir — alongside world leaders

Javokhir Sindarov entered the FIDE Candidates event in Cyprus as a dangerous unknown and has quickly turned into the player to beat. The 20-year-old Uzbek has won five games and drawn two, collecting six of seven possible points in the 14-round tournament and sitting one and a half points ahead of American Fabiano Caruana. The victor in the event will win the right to meet reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju later this year. Sindarov is the youngest competitor among the

Kazakhstan is stepping up efforts to attract private investment into major transport and energy works, with the International Finance Corporation signaling support for the government's reform agenda. The IFC says it is supplying a mix of funding and risk-mitigation tools to make large-scale projects more appealing to private backers, and has already supplied financing for a rail bypass project outside Almaty. Officials and advisors say airports, city infrastructure and renewa

China’s state-run international channel aired an on-camera conversation March 24 with Turkmenistan’s leader that painted warm ties between the two capitals, but numbers offered during that exchange did not match figures given by Chinese diplomats days later. In Beijing, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said Turkmenistan has been sending about 40 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year to China and that both sides aim to lift deliveries to 65 bcm. Yet on March 27, China’s ambassado

Subheadline: Heritage Foundation places three South Caucasus states in the “moderately free” category, but local experts warn weak courts and graft threaten long-term investor confidence The Heritage Foundation’s 2026 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Georgia as the most business-friendly country in Eurasia, even as the nation’s political system has shifted toward centralised rule. The annual survey placed Georgia 35 out of 184 countries, highlighting low taxation, streamlined

Russian and Iranian officials say a key land connection used for commerce between Tehran and Moscow has continued to carry traffic even as U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have targeted sites inside Iran over the past month. Moscow reported only a short halt in shipments and credited Azerbaijani authorities with swiftly restoring passage that allowed truck drivers to return northward. Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk told Interfax on March 25 that freight volumes along the we

Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev visited Tashkent on March 31 and emerged with signs that long-running competition between the two Central Asian powers is giving way to sustained cooperation. Kosherbayev held talks with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, and officials framed the meetings as a step toward a tighter, more coordinated bilateral relationship aimed at boosting trade and regional connectivity. Kosherbayev told reporters th

Shymkent summit rhetoric is failing to stop new border checks and licensing demands that are chipping away at commerce between member capitals. SHYMKENT, Kazakhstan — Leaders gathered here last month to press for closer economic ties inside the Eurasian Economic Union, but the pledges from the podium have done little to halt an uptick in trade disruptions that are hitting households and small firms across the bloc. Importers report longer waits at crossings, manufacturers say

With Less Than 10 Months To Go Until The January 24, 2027, Election, Moves Inside Government And State Firms Point To Pre-Election Consolidation State corridors in Bishkek and beyond have filled with signs of a political reordering that many residents say looks designed to reduce internal friction before next January’s presidential ballot. Officials in the capital and regional centers have sidelined several high-profile figures in recent weeks, prompting critics and supporter

A trading company based in Georgia has agreed to bring fuel, metal and chemical shipments from the Donetsk region, now under Moscow-backed control, in a move that has alarmed Western officials and critics at home. The contract, announced by local media and confirmed by the firm's owner, envisions using some of the coal domestically and forwarding the rest to markets such as India and Turkey. Donetsk’s Moscow-installed administrator also said the arrangement signals an opening

A largely intact fixed-wing unmanned aircraft was discovered this week in the Akzhayik area of West Kazakhstan, local police said, adding to a string of similar recoveries along the country’s western flank. The object was located outside a settlement near the village of Karaulytobe and, based on circulating photographs later corroborated by regional officials, resembled a small drone. No one was hurt and no property damage was reported as investigators began collecting eviden

Kazakhstan has lodged an investment arbitration claim over sulfur storage rules at the Kashagan oil field, the vice minister of justice said Tuesday, sending the dispute to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington. The case targets the North Caspian Operating Company, the consortium that runs Kashagan and includes Shell, TotalEnergies, Eni, ExxonMobil, CNPC, Inpex and state-owned KazMunayGas. Astana’s action follows a March 2023 inspection