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An amnesty for 18,038, and a map of whom Tajikistan will not forgive
On 16 June, ahead of Tajikistan’s 35th independence anniversary, President Emomali Rahmon signed an amnesty covering 18,038 convicts, with 11,305 to be released outright. It is a large and genuine act of clemency. It is also, as these laws reliably are, built with a careful list of people it will not touch.
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.
In one day, Kazakhstan courts Washington, Beijing and Moscow
On a single day this week Kazakhstan opened a US-led minerals dialogue, banked 6 billion dollars from China for a new city, and offered to pump more Russian gas to its neighbour. That is multi-vector foreign policy as a daily schedule.
US House passes a bill on Chinese and Russian influence in Georgia
The US House passed the Countering China’s Control of the Caucasus Act on 8 June, ordering a classified report on Russian and Chinese intelligence activity in Georgia. It is the sharpest sign yet of Washington’s rift with Tbilisi.
Pashinyan wins — and the margin tells the real story
The final results of Armenia’s parliamentary elections have cemented Nikol Pashinyan’s third consecutive term, but the tight mathematical metrics reveal a complex legislative landscape ahead. While his Civil Contract party secured enough seats to form a government single-handedly, it fell short of the constitutional supermajority required to reshape the country's institutional framework. The razor-thin margin shows that while voters backed his westward shift, they refused to hand him absolute domestic power.
Four days out: Washington names Moscow's play in Armenia
Secretary Rubio told the Senate on Tuesday that Russia wants Pashinyan to lose. The claim lands in the middle of the dirtiest election campaign Armenia has seen in years.
The EU goes to Ashgabat: what rights groups want from the June 22 dialogue
The 18th annual EU-Turkmenistan Human Rights Dialogue takes place in Ashgabat on June 22. IPHR and TIHR published a briefing this week telling Brussels what to demand.
Armenia's Election: Eleven Days, Three Stories
What the polls, the party platforms and the money trails reveal about June 7