While the Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan is seeking to expand its membership, paving the way for the gradual incorporation of the Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine into its integration orbit, opposition in these countries to the Eurasian integration project has been steadily rising.Several... MORE

It was not the first time Central Asia’s water disputes have taken a prominent place on the summit agenda of the presidents of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Islam Karimov, respectively. But the meeting in Tashkent on June 14–15 (see EDM, June 18) attached... MORE

On June 13–14, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev arrived in Tashkent for a summit with his Uzbekistani counterpart Islam Karimov. Although media coverage of this meeting differed in both countries, the summit witnessed the signing of a “strategic partnership” between Astana and Tashkent. Equally, despite the... MORE

On May 29, the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine met in Astana to participate in a scheduled meeting of the Supreme Economic Council of the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), established in 2001. Since Moscow, Minsk and Astana have lately been engaged in... MORE

The jihadist network in Kazakhstan, inspired and financed by al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Caucasus Emirate, has shifted from a loose grouping of largely autonomous jamaats into a unified movement that threatens not only Kazakhstan but Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and portions of Uzbekistan as well, according... MORE

On April 26, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev opened the third ministerial meeting of the so-called Istanbul process, an international initiative for reconstructing and stabilizing Afghanistan in view of the International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) forthcoming departure from this country. Speaking before the delegates of the... MORE

Turkmenistani President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov made a state visit to Kazakhstan on May 10–11. Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that his counterpart’s visit “demonstrates the mutual desire to develop these fraternal relations and raise trade and economic relations to a new level” (Trend, May 10). Berdimuhamedov... MORE

While the phenomenon of the military parade has lost much of its former appeal in Western media coverage, with sporadic mention of the Russian show of arms on Red Square on May 9 marking Victory Day, a less well publicized recent event in southern Kazakhstan... MORE

Following the creation in June 2009 of the rapid reaction forces to enhance the military capabilities of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Uzbekistan’s departure from the body in 2012 and the prospect of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) drawdown in Afghanistan, Moscow is... MORE

On April 26, Almaty hosted the third Ministerial Conference of the Istanbul Process. Many foreign ministers attended, though some countries, such as the United States, were represented by their deputies. Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev keynoted the event, which was co-chaired by Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Erlan... MORE