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Dushanbe puts a number on the Iranian option: 2.55 million tons
Tajikistan has asked Iran for 2.55 million tons of crude and petroleum products, figures the Transport Ministry published from last week's Tehran talks, a request close to three times all freight now moving between the two countries.
An oil camp protest in Mongolia ends with an apology recorded by Beijing
A senior Mongolian official apologised to China's charge d'affaires after protesters raided the camp of a Chinese-invested oil explorer, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the Chinese embassy in Ulaanbaatar.
Armenia's cabinet approves a programme for the Fourth Republic
Armenia's government adopted its 2026 to 2031 programme on Thursday and cleared it for parliament, turning this week's agenda item into a five-year contract that reaches from the Baku peace file into the affairs of the Armenian Church.
Kyrgyz fuel importers sign with a second Chinese major
The Kyrgyz fuel mission to Xinjiang has turned talks into signatures. Companies travelling with deputy cabinet chairman Erlist Akunbekov signed supply agreements with China National Petroleum Corporation, per a readout published Wednesday, after Monday's session with Sinopec.
Mirziyoyev says a second nuclear station is in preparation
Uzbekistan is running big preparations for a second nuclear power station, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev told an investment ceremony in Khorezm region. He said it on Monday; gazeta.uz surfaced the remark overnight into Thursday.
Mongolia puts soldiers and tax holidays on an unfinished refinery
The cabinet in Ulaanbaatar has assigned Internal Troops to guard the refinery under construction at Altanshiree and freed the project from land fees for 10 years and property tax for 5. Until the plant runs, Mongolia's fuel security is a daily wagon count from Russia. Wednesday's count was 76.
Yerevan promises everyone a deepening, and Moscow sends the first invoice
The programme Armenia's cabinet takes up on Thursday lists partners from Washington to the EAEU for deeper relations, all at once. One of those partners has already put a price on its line: Rosselkhoznadzor is asking for inspection results and a written compliance programme.
Kazakhstan's first Kurultai campaign ends with 59,000 questions
Wednesday night's television debates closed the argument phase of Kazakhstan's first elections to the Kurultai, the 145-seat single chamber replacing the Senate and the Mazhilis. Two campaign days remain; the country votes on Sunday.
Baku's wanted list reaches into a Moscow ministry
Aleksey Chadayev, an adviser to Russia's transport minister, announced his resignation late Tuesday after Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office charged him and 2 media figures over summer livestreams and put them on a wanted list. Russia's foreign ministry, for its part, has stepped back from the commentators: their views, it says, in no way reflect Moscow's position.
Tajikistan's new B+ is priced against a $5.8 billion dam
S&P raised Tajikistan to B+ on 14 August, its verdict on five years in which the economy grew about 8.5% a year and reserves rose to $6.4 billion. In the same package its analysts put the remaining cost of Rogun at $5.8 billion. The upgrade and the bill belong in one sentence.
The Middle Corridor is one row in Washington's tariff table
Caucasus and Central Asia holds 4 names together: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, filed under Belt-and-Road Overland Nodes. That label does more work than any of the coverage that trickled into regional media this week.
Russia's refineries falter, and Bishkek takes its fuel order to Urumqi
Kyrgyzstan's deputy cabinet chairman Erlist Akunbekov brought representatives of more than 10 fuel companies to Sinopec's table in Urumqi on Monday, with a mandate the cabinet's readout states in one line: “Kyrgyzstan is interested in increasing supplies of petroleum products from China.” About 95% of its fuel now comes from Russia, and Russia's refining is under drone attack.
The summit dated by everyone except its most important guest
Bishkek is closing ten shopping centres, three markets and four underpasses for the first days of September. Beijing has still not said that its president is coming.
Kazakhstan’s foreign vote loses 3 stations before Sunday
Polling stations in Ukraine, Iran and Ethiopia will not open for the 23 August Kurultai election, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, as ballots go out to 70 stations abroad and the campaign closes tonight on television.
Baku hands Moscow’s envoy a list of 3 broadcasts
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry summoned Russian ambassador Mikhail Yevdokimov on Tuesday and lodged what it called a firm protest over “provocative, insulting and threatening statements” about Azerbaijan’s state, people and leadership in Russian media.
Mirziyoyev offers business a 3-year truce
Uzbekistan signed a law of guarantees for business on Monday and spent Tuesday announcing the specifics: fines cut by half, a 3-year moratorium on most small-business inspections, energy prepayments down to 15%, and 10 days to fix a first offence. The guarantees are signed. The specifics, so far, are a speech.
A 72 million tonne forecast meets a 33 million tonne half
The CPC moved 33.35 million tonnes of crude in the first half of 2026, down 7.4% on a year earlier, by figures Interfax carried on Tuesday from KazMunayGas’s operational report. A 72 million tonne plan for the year is still on the books, and the books now require a bigger half than either half of 2025.
Novorossiysk resumes its loadings, and the ships burn again
Novorossiysk reopened for crude on Sunday. Within 2 days a drone found a tanker whose tracking pointed to the CPC terminal, a grain ship burned out on approach, and the second Kazakh cargo the restart promised remains unconfirmed.
Turkmenistan's China trade runs $5 out for every $1 back
Trade between Turkmenistan and China came to $4.82 billion in the first half of 2026, and its structure is the story: $4.04 billion of Turkmen exports against $778 million of imports.