Russian President Vladimir Putin participated in the seventh summit of the heads of states in the Astana Peace Process for Syria in Tehran, Iran, on July 19, 2022. This marked Putin’s first trip outside the post-Soviet bloc since Russia’s military attack on Ukraine, and it... MORE

Massive protests that began earlier this month in the Republic of Karakalpakstan in northwest Uzbekistan have now quieted down. In early July 2022, protestors took to the streets railing against Tashkent’s plan to remove provisions from the Constitution of Uzbekistan that allow Karakalpaks to declare... MORE

On July 14, both Western (Euractiv.com, July 13) and Russian (Rbc.ru, July 14) sources reported that the European Union’s seventh sanctions package will put an embargo on Russian gold imports. If this happens, the EU will join the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and... MORE

On 20 June, Uzbekistani President Shavkat Mirziyoyev chaired a meeting dedicated to changes and amendments to the national constitution. After dwelling on the reforms related to strengthening the protection of human rights and improving state administrative functions, President Mirziyoyev went on to propose that several... MORE

The Kremlin had expected its relationship to improve with Kazakhstan following Russia’s intervention to support Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s government against violent rioters early this year. Instead, since then, relations have deteriorated seriously due to Nur-Sultan’s refusal to support Moscow’s policies in Ukraine (see EDM,... MORE

On June 27, Baku, Azerbaijan, hosted the first trilateral meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and transport of Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (News.az, June 27). The ministers paid special attention to issues of regional cooperation and the development potential of the Middle Corridor (Trans-Caspian... MORE

On June 18, Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) militants attacked a Sikh place of worship, or gurdwara, in Kabul, killing two people, although Islamic State (IS) touted a much higher casualty total (The Hindu, June 19). IS formally claimed the operation through its Amaq... MORE

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met with the new leader of neighboring Turkmenistan, President Serdar Berdymukhammedov, for the first time on June 15, at the 6th summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states, in Ashgabat. As a consequence of their talks, the pair agreed to sign... MORE

In the first four months of 2022, Azerbaijan’s revenues from gas exports increased about 3.7 times and reached $4.18 billion (Marja, May 19). Revenues from oil exports, on the other hand, increased 50.3 percent in the same period. As a result, the positive balance of... MORE

At the end of June, Uzbekistan’s central government published the draft of a new constitution that would strip the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan of the right to secede, which heretofore had been guaranteed in the existing basic law. As a result, on July 1, thousands... MORE