Crossroads Asia | Economy | Central Asia Moscow’s needs are more immediate, giving Tashkent time and space to negotiate. Advertisement Kazakhstan will be ready to provide infrastructure for the transit of Russian gas to Uzbekistan for the “autumn-winter 2024” once Tashkent and Moscow conclude negotiations over volume and price, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Almasadam Satkaliyev said this week. It’s the … Read more
Advertisement In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank revised slightly upward its estimate of economic performance in 2022 in the Europe and Central Asia region. In the January edition, the bank had estimated that growth slowed to just 0.2 percent across the wider region, or 4.2 percent when excluding Russia and Ukraine. … Read more
Advertisement On May 9, Russia’s annual Victory Day celebration, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praised Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort in Ukraine. This is the latest sign of the nations’ strengthening ties, following the White House’s March 30 announcement that the Kremlin is once again seeking to trade food and other supplies for … Read more
Advertisement A pair of Brighton Beach-based lawyers were sentenced on May 31 after pleading guilty in January to participating in a conspiracy to commit immigration fraud by advising clients, primarily from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, to “seek asylum by falsely claiming that they were members of the [LGBTQ] community who suffered persecution … Read more
Advertisement While the United States and its allies struggle with operating in the gray zone – competition between peacetime and war – the West’s adversaries, including China and Russia, have no such issue. Russia has long been comfortable exploiting non-kinetic actions to advance its interests vis-à-vis its rivals and now Beijing is emulating Moscow, leveraging … Read more
Advertisement The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick – a senior research scientist at CNA, and senior research scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University – is the 368th in “The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series.” Explain the core … Read more
Advertisement In the first quarter of 2023, 350,000 Tajik citizens migrated to Russia — 100,000 more than in the same period in 2022. More than 630,000 Uzbek citizens did the same, a 72 percent increase on the 366,000 that made the journey in 2022. Nearly 173,000 Kyrgyz citizens made the journey too, among others. When … 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
Advertisement The lure of work in Ukraine’s war-torn territory has proven difficult to resist for Central Asian labor migrants, and Russian companies have taken notice. Despite the inherent dangers of working in an active conflict zone, opportunities in Ukraine have proven both reliable and lucrative. Embattled ethnic minorities like Tajikistan’s Pamiris are especially vulnerable due … Read more
The Koreas | Diplomacy | East Asia European Council President Charles Michel said Russia’s continued attacks against Ukraine show that deeper cooperation between the EU and South Korea is “not a luxury. It’s a vital necessity.” South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol, center, poses for a photo with European Council President Charles Michel, left, and European Commission President Ursula von … Read more