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Georgia's jailed ex-premier says the pressure now reaches his father
Irakli Gharibashvili, 8 months in custody, has sent a third statement out of prison. In a letter passed through an intermediary, netgazeti reports, he describes pressure to give evidence and a threat of arrest hanging over his 65-year-old father.
Ashgabat opens its hosting season with a Tajik signature
Serdar Berdimuhamedov received Tajik foreign minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin on Thursday, and the two foreign ministries signed a cooperation program for 2027 and 2028. The reception is advance work for an autumn in which Avaza hosts two summits.
Drones return to Nizhnekamsk, and the airports close before dawn
A massed drone attack crossed Tatarstan in the night into Thursday, densest over the Zakamsk industrial zone, 10 days after a strike on the same district killed 13 people, 9 of them Central Asian workers. Officials count injuries, no deaths. By Friday before dawn, flight restrictions reached Kazan, Samara and 5 more airports.
Uzbekistan auctions 2,500 river sites for small hydropower
Tashkent has identified about 3,000 potential sites for small and micro hydropower stations and put more than 2,500 of them up for auction, the first deputy energy minister said, a day after the president ordered the segment scaled up.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The blackout inquiry stops at the border
Four days after two Toktogul generators tripped and Kazakhstan's south went dark, the inquiries multiply on each side of the border and the joint one exists only in Bishkek's appeals. Kazakhstan's Tuesday cabinet session went to school readiness.
Washington's transshipment map reaches the region, and Tbilisi demands facts
A White House report on Chinese tariff evasion places Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in one category of small transit economies, and on Tuesday Georgia's prime minister answered it: show a fact.
Kazakh crude is loading again at Novorossiysk
Novorossiysk resumed crude loadings on Sunday, Reuters reported on Monday, citing two industry sources, and the first two cargoes the sources describe are Kazakhstan's KEBCO grade. A Suezmax began loading Sunday and was due to sail Monday; a second tanker was expected to start on 80,000 tonnes of KEBCO on Tuesday.
The tanker leaves in the log, and nowhere else
The port-call record for Aegean Dream now shows a departure from Novorossiysk at 07:02 UTC Monday after a 10-hour call. The ship's transponder, dark since 10 August, confirms none of it.