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Tajikistan and Mongolia sign twelve documents, minerals and glaciers included
After talks in Ulaanbaatar on 21 July, Emomali Rahmon and Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh adopted a joint statement, and 11 further documents were signed in their presence. The list runs heavier than the trade between the two countries: two mining lines, a road-transport agreement, and a glacier-and-desertification memorandum four weeks before Ulaanbaatar hosts the UN’s desertification conference.
Rahmon returns to Ulaanbaatar after 17 years
Tajikistan’s president arrived in Mongolia on Monday for a state visit running to 22 July, his first since March 2009, returning last year’s first-ever trip by a Mongolian president to Dushanbe. The talks and the signing come on Tuesday, and the document list is the watch.
Tashkent changes the man who guards the president
By decree on 18 July, President Mirziyoyev appointed Rustam Juraev chairman of the State Security Service of the president and promoted him to lieutenant general. Alisher Usmanov, a career officer who shares his name with the Russian-Uzbek billionaire, was released from the post. The announcements gave no reason.
Tashiev rules himself out of 2027
Two weeks after a suspended sentence ended Kyrgyzstan’s ruling tandem, the former security chief said he will not run for president in 2027 and will back Sadyr Japarov, in a statement circulated on the evening of 16 July.
Rahmon rebuilds the deputy floor of the state
In a single day the Tajik president appointed new deputies at the National Bank, the energy and water ministry, transport, customs, the pensions agency and the state industrial-export bank, with digitalization written into their mandates. The ministers stayed in place; the floor beneath them was rebuilt.
An Armenian court clears the runway for the grid takeover
The Administrative Court has refused to accept Tashir Capital’s lawsuit against the government concerning 70% of the shares of Electric Networks of Armenia, the infrastructure ministry announced on Tuesday. The refusal lands days before the government is due to declare the company an overriding public interest, and it closes the owner’s last visible domestic avenue.
Kazakhstan’s new parliament costs $72 million before a single vote
The government has allocated 34.3 billion tenge, about $72 million, from its reserve fund to run the 23 August elections to the Kurultai, the single-chamber parliament created by the July constitution. It comes from the reserve because last year’s budget could not foresee the institution it is now paying for.
Russia's new RuID app now stands between Central Asian migrants and the border
From 1 July, visa-free travelers to Russia, including millions of Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Tajik citizens, must file an electronic application through the Gosuslugi RuID app at least 72 hours before crossing and show a QR code at the border. The paperwork is digital; the hold is old.
Kazakhstan sets the first Kurultai election for 23 August
Hours after the new constitution took effect on 1 July, Tokayev signed the decree calling elections to the single-chamber Kurultai for 23 August. The campaign for Kazakhstan’s first party-list-only parliament now has a date.
Kyrgyzstan gains two villages from Uzbekistan, and a road that cuts 200 kilometers off the trip
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan swapped border land this week: two villages of about 2,500 people moved to Kyrgyzstan, equal plots went back, and 236 hectares changed hands for a road that cuts one regional journey from 255 kilometers to 55. Bishkek has already proposed the same kind of swap to Kazakhstan.
The Iran deal nearly broke on Lebanon, then Lebanon got a ceasefire
The talks meant to start today were postponed indefinitely after Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 16 people overnight and Iran held back its delegation. By Friday afternoon Hezbollah and Israel had agreed a ceasefire, the first test of a peace deal passed on the very front that almost sank it.
A day after the signing, the Iran talks meant to start today are off
The implementation talks scheduled for Friday at Switzerland's Bürgenstock will not take place as planned, the Swiss foreign ministry said. Vice President Vance delayed his trip. The signed memorandum is two days old and already snagged, with Lebanon the first knot.
Kazakhstan's new constitution takes effect in twelve days
On 1 July, Kazakhstan switches to a single-chamber parliament, restores a vice presidency, and stands up a presidentially appointed People's Council. Backed by 87% in a March referendum and billed as modernisation, the overhaul concentrates power as much as it redistributes it.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan set up a joint commission on shared water
The two governments agreed on 17 June to create a transboundary water management commission. It drew none of the attention the Tashkent forum did. Over a decade it may matter more.
Uzbekistan loses to Colombia but scores the goal it will remember
Abbosbek Fayzullaev levelled the match at the Azteca on the hour, the first World Cup goal in Uzbekistan's history. Colombia answered within five minutes and won 3 to 1, but the debut delivered the moment the country came for.
The White Wolves take the Azteca pitch tonight in Central Asia's first World Cup match
Uzbekistan's confirmed starting eleven lines up against Colombia at 22:00 local time in Mexico City, 02:00 UTC, 18 June. Eldor Shomurodov leads the line. Cannavaro asks for the game to be played on Uzbekistan's terms.
Uzbekistan plays its first World Cup match tonight
Central Asia's footballing moment arrives at the Azteca on 17 June, when Uzbekistan face Colombia in their World Cup debut. Ranked 50th, coached by Fabio Cannavaro, they are heavy underdogs, and the first team from the region ever to reach the finals.
Russia raises the price of a passport 12-fold, and waives it for soldiers
Russia’s parliament passed a law this week raising the fee for citizenship 12-fold and removing it for those who enlist to fight in Ukraine. The squeeze falls hardest on the millions of Central Asians who work there.
Kazakhstan’s ruling party votes to merge into a new pro-Tokayev party
Amanat, the party built around Nursultan Nazarbayev and in power since 1999, said at its congress on 12 June that it will merge into Adilet, a party created this year by President Tokayev’s allies. It is the clearest break yet with the Nazarbayev machine, weeks before August’s elections.
Kazakhstan’s Senate ratifies a border-regime deal with Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan’s Senate ratified the agreement governing the regime along its 2,356-kilometre border with Uzbekistan on 11 June, the last legal step in a demarcation the two finished in 2022.