Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, in 1991, the four new countries that emerged around the northern Caspian shore—Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan—along with their southern neighbor Iran have been developing their offshore hydrocarbon reserves. This scramble for natural resources has, in turn, raised... MORE

President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree, on September 29, adopting Kazakhstan’s new Military Doctrine. The document outlines key priorities in military security for the Central Asian republic (Zakon.kz, September 29; Nomad.su, October 9). Interestingly, the doctrine itself received almost no public attention inside Kazakhstan. Several... MORE

Preliminary results of the presidential elections held in Kyrgyzstan, on October 15, announced by the Central Election Committee, may come as a surprise to observers who followed pre-election developments (see EDM, September 27). In a resounding victory, Sooronbay Zheenbekov, the ruling Social Democratic Party candidate,... MORE

Transboundary water sharing is one of the most contentious issues dividing Central Asian countries. And as Uzbekistan continues to actively pursue better relations with its neighbors (see EDM, May 24, June 27, September 12, 18), discussions over water usage are moving to the top of... MORE

More than any other non-Russian country in the post-Soviet space, Kazakhstan now faces separatist challenges that were structured into it by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s and 1930s, when he included large and predominantly ethnic-Russian-populated regions in the north within the republic’s borders. The Soviet... MORE

On September 27, the head of Azerbaijani Railways Company, Javid Gurbanov, along with his Georgian and Turkish counterparts, Mamuka Bakhtadze and Ahmad Arslan, respectively, attended the first test run by a passenger train along a section of the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK) railway, from the Georgian capital... MORE

Kyrgyzstan is not the poorest post-Soviet state, but it is the recipient of more Russian money than any other (Turantoday.com, October 11). And Moscow’s payments appear to have purchased at least one thing Moscow very much wants: Bishkek has put off for perhaps two decades... MORE

The president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, paid an official visit to Uzbekistan in mid-September, highlighting improving relations between Central Asia’s two largest states. There, he met with his Uzbekistani counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyaev, for the sixth time since the latter took office last December, following the... MORE

Following the death of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, in September 2016, his successor, Shavkat Mirziyaev, has begun cautiously reversing many of his predecessor’s nationalist policies. Among the most striking turnarounds to date is the joint five-day Russian-Uzbekistani military exercise, which began on October 3, at... MORE

In what seemed like an ill-considered move amid the highly tense pre-election atmosphere in Kyrgyzstan, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev received the self-nominated presidential candidate Omurbek Babanov, in Almaty, on September 19. Babanov heads the Respublika opposition party and served as Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister in... MORE