Author: Salizhan Abdraimov

The Federation Council approved a ban on leaving Russia for conscripts from the date the summons was posted in the relevant register. According to the amendments, the ban will be established by the military registration and enlistment offices from the day the agenda is sent, including at the place of study or work of the conscript The Federation Council unanimously approved a law that prohibits conscripts from leaving Russia from the date the summons is posted in the relevant register. The State Duma adopted this law at a meeting on July 25. According to current regulations, the ban on leaving Russia takes…

Hungary started building ties with central Asia before other players, and now enjoys a competitive advantage in a region with growing importance, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said after meeting his Kyrgyz counterpart, Jeenbek Kulubaev, in Budapest on Monday. Péter Szijjártó told a joint press conference with Kulubaev that in the wake of the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions on Russia, well-used transit routes and trade relationships had become “practically impossible”. As a result, “physical trade routes and the supply routes of some resources moved to central Asia. Hungary, and observer in the Organisation of Turkic…

Some 310,000 people have visited the National Museum of Kazakhstan since the beginning of this year, a record number considering 330,000 visitors recorded for the entire 2022, said the museum’s Acting Director Aibek Sydykov, the Culture and Sports Ministry’s press service reported on July 21. “This indicates an increased interest in our people’s thousand-year-old cultural heritage and history,” said Sydykov. According to him, the reason for a surge in the number of visitors this year is two new halls opened this April, including the hall of paleontology and the artisans’ center, which sparked the interest of guests of all ages.…

Critics of the legislation say it is designed to enable censorship. Lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan have adopted legislation they say is designed to protect children from “harmful information,” but which appears in part intended to marginalize minority communities.  Freedom of expression advocates, meanwhile, have described the legislation as a crude effort at censorship. With parliament having approved the legislation in second and third readings on June 22, it only remains for President Sadyr Japarov to sign off before the provisions become law. The bill, which was authored by MP Jamilya Isayeva, is focused on online content and envision fines of up to around $290 for…

Brussels, Frankfurt (16/6 – 33) The European Union declared late last year that it intended to investigate how Russia acquired so-called “kamikaze drones” from the Islamic Republic of Iran, for battlefield deployment. While the production of these game-changing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) was not reported until after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, numerous media claim the Russian military is deploying Iranian-made Geran-2 drones on the battlefield. This was confirmed through analysis of fragments from Russian Geran-2 drones shot down by Ukrainian forces; experts conclude that these UAVs are identical to the Shahed-136 kamikaze drones produced by Iran. While the West…

Almaty, Kazakhstan (16/6 – 35)Yerkin Tatishev, the Chairman and Founder of Kusto Group, has assumed the chairmanship of Almaty Management University (AMU), Kazakhstan’s oldest private university. Tatishev’s appointment, announced last week, marks a significant milestone for AMU as it looks to further enhance its reputation as a leading institution for business education in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. Tatishev, an accomplished entrepreneur, philanthropist, and passionate advocate for education, brings to his new role at AMU a wealth of experience and a visionary approach. As a key driver of growth and transformation in various industries across the CIS region,…

The Dungan Mosque is a uniquely shaped and very distinguishable mosque that is located in the center of the fourth largest city in the Kyrgyz Republic, Karakol. This exotic-looking building at first glance might be mistaken for a Buddhist temple, since the main architect for the design was Chow Sze who together with 30 other architects built this amazing structure. Constructed between 1907 and 1910, the mosque has one floor and it is built using wood only without using any nails. The used system of grooves and slashes is a very unique to the Asian cultures, and this Islamic religious…

Kyrgyz culture goes back to ancient times. Being part of the Silk Road, it has been influenced by China, Iran, Middle East, Western world and later Russia, thus becoming home to many different ethnic groups and a rich and differentiated culture. Currently there are around 80 ethnic groups, although with the collapse of the Soviet Union the ethnic composition has changed, with many Russians, Ukrainians and Germans returning to their native lands. Ethnic groups from the western part of the Soviet Union relocated to Central Asia, either spontaneously or not. This was part of the effort to develop less populated…

The Pamir Gate triggers a geopolitical crisis. Berlin (2/5 – 100) For the Pamiri ethnic minority and the inhabitants of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in Tajikistan, the month of May is a reminder of the dark past. Of death, oppression, violence, fear, flight, and resistance. On May 14, 2022, an uprising broke out in Khorog, the capital of GBAO, the homeland of the Pamiris. About 1,000 people gathered to peacefully demand the resignation of regional official Alisher Mirzonabatov, contemptuously called “The Butcher of the Pamirs”, and the fair investigation into the death of Gulbidin Ziyobekov, a resident of…

The Kyrgyz Republic struggled with internal, low-intensity conflict before, during and after their history with the Soviet Union. Local, informal, community-based conflict resolution mechanisms were able to sustain the low intensity of the conflict. The contextual variable for the southern three oblasts of the Kyrgyz Republic is based on a geographic reality: they are inter-linked with the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Republic of Tajikistan. This geographic puzzle known as the Ferghana Valley connects these three former Soviet Republics without delineated borders and with personality-driven, cross-border, cooperative initiatives that don’t foster confidence in its sustainability. A particularly egregious incident of…