In the aftermath of the March 22 attack on Crocus City Hall, a concert venue in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow, which resulted in at least 139 deaths, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement recommending that Kyrgyz citizens avoid travel to Russia. The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) has reportedly claimed responsibility … Read more
To mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last week and the recent death of Russia opposition politician Alexei Navalny, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced sanctions on almost 300 individuals and entities. Embedded in the list were a handful of Central Asian companies. The latest … Read more
Advertisement Central Asia remains geopolitically stuck between the East and West amid the Russian war in Ukraine. The cases of Russians detained in the region for various reasons, and facing possible extradition in either direction, are particularly interesting to track. But drawing conclusions about alignment from them is a fool’s game. Russian IT expert Nikita … Read more
Advertisement Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS) said in a statement on July 20 that private Kyrgyz companies may be involved in sanctions evasion but that the state, and state-owned companies, are not. Kyrgyz government officials also pledged to take measures to investigate and stop such activities. The SCNS, Kyrgyzstan’s intelligence and security agency, … Read more
Advertisement Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has changed the flow of music performances, sending an increasing number of Russian, Ukrainian, and Western singers to Central Asia. In June, concerts by Russian performers planned in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan were canceled. The range of actors responsible for the concert cancellations and their motivations for … Read more
Advertisement On April 7, Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s federal agricultural oversight body, announced they had found pig DNA in a batch of sausage imported by Toyboss, a Kyrgyz manufacturing company. From Russia’s perspective, the infraction was a problem because the pig products had not been declared in customs. But the accusation had larger significance in Kyrgyzstan. Toyboss’s … Read more