On October 24, dozens of Uzbekistani citizens living in the Russian town of Orel received draft orders as part of the “partial mobilization” announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 21. The Russian government’s intent to shore up as many able-bodied men as possible... MORE

The G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, scheduled for November 15–16, certainly presents attractive prospects for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who needs to re-assert his place among the world’s most influential leaders. However, he has yet to confirm his travel plans and not purely out of... MORE

What had been a long-running local conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan regarding the delimitation of borders and the fate of exclaves has now expanded over the past two weeks to include major military units and the targeting of infrastructure deep within the territory of both... MORE

About three weeks remain until the snap presidential elections in Kazakhstan, which are scheduled for November 20—18 months ahead of the original 2024 date (Tengrinews, September 22). In the words of Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, changing the election date was necessary “to reload the main... MORE

Throughout the Russo-Ukrainian war and a period of tense relations between Russia and Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan has followed a proactive track of transport diplomacy to strengthen its geopolitical and geo-economic position through Eurasian rail trade. The main aim of Tashkent’s diplomacy is to transform itself from... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” against Ukraine has severely impacted Eurasian transport logistics, particularly cargo traveling along the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) bound for Europe via Russian Railways (RZD). In 2021, China Railway Express (CRE), a subsidiary... MORE

Like most outside powers who have come to Central Asia, China has sought to treat the region as a single whole, a place from which it can extract natural resources and sell its own goods at a profit. The region represents a blank slate on... MORE

The Collective Security Treaty Organization, better known by its initials, CSTO—or by Moscow’s aspiration that it should be an equal counterpart to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)—is now on the brink of collapse, yet another case of the collateral damage Russia has suffered in... MORE

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s trip to Astana, Kazakhstan, on October 13 to participate in the 6th Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) turned out to be quite eventful. While there, Lukashenka held face-to-face meetings with Turkish President Recep... MORE

Central Asia took its first steps toward regional integration soon after independence in the region in 1991. Yet, for several reasons, this integration failed. Even so, with the change in leadership in Uzbekistan in 2016, attempts to improve regional cooperation have been revived, this time... MORE