Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan extends its timber export ban, eyeing Russian re-exports
Bishkek prolonged its ban on exporting timber outside the Eurasian Economic Union for another six months, a recurring move aimed partly at blocking the re-export of duty-free Russian wood.
Remittances remain Central Asia’s clearest stability gauge
The fastest read on Central Asian stability is the money migrants wire home from Russia. In Tajikistan it equals almost half of GDP, which makes the ruble the region’s quiet budget line.
Fifty companies
Kyrgyzstan shut down fifty companies on a list provided by Washington and London. The part of the story that got less attention: it was a list of fifty-one.
Kyrgyzstan on the Security Council and under EU sanctions: the week the contradictions converge
The UN seat is confirmed for 2027. The EU compliance seminar is tomorrow in Bishkek. Two tracks that should be unrelated, and are not.
EBRD Annual Meeting opens in Riga: what Central Asia is watching
The bank's 35th gathering runs 5 to 7 June. The Governors' plenary is 6 June. The updated Regional Economic Prospects drop 7 June. Central Asian finance ministers are in the room.
Kyrgyzstan wins a UN Security Council seat, 142 to 49 over the Philippines
Four rounds of voting. A result that Central Asian diplomats called historic. Bishkek joins the Council for the first time since independence in 1991.
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Kyrgyzstan vs the Philippines: the UN votes today for an Asia-Pacific Security Council seat
The ballot in New York opens at 10am local time. A Kyrgyzstan win would put Central Asia on the Council for the first time since Kazakhstan's 2017 to 2018 term.
The SCO at 25: a quarter-century of summits, zero kilometres of new railway
The anniversary session in St. Petersburg today will celebrate what the organisation has become. The Central Asian members are more interested in what it might finally build
The level of the delegation is the message
Central Asia is in St. Petersburg this week, but not equally. What each country’s roster says about where the relationship with Russia actually stands
The first country: what happened after the EU made an example of Kyrgyzstan
Brussels activated a tool it had never used. Six weeks later, Bishkek shut down 50 companies. The experiment is being watched across the region.