Kavkaz

As fears grow that Moscow may react to mooted western sanctions by halting gas exports to Europe, Europe and Azerbaijan are talking about how Baku may help by boosting its own gas exports westward. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, confirmed on January 30 that Brussels was in …

As Russia amasses more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s borders, the Kremlin is holding the country at gunpoint while imposing outrageous demands on the West. On Dec. 17, 2021, Moscow issued two draft “treaties” demanding legal guarantees for the reversal of NATO’s open door policy, which is enshrined in the …

When Aidana Zhanadilova and her friends arrived at Republic Square on January 6, Almaty was enveloped in a meteorological and communications fog. The day before, after a crowd of several thousand people overpowered security forces and broke into Almaty’s city hall, the government flicked the switch on the internet. What …

President Putin has been making some astonishing demands, including: NATO mustn’t admit additional countries near Russia, such as Ukraine and Georgia. NATO must cease military activity in non-NATO territories: Georgia, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and parts of eastern Europe. Yet, incredibly, Putin has himself been enabling a NATO member’s …

Armenia has always made far more devastating claims against Turkey, such as genocide committed against them in 1915, than against Azerbaijan and yet, there would seem to be on the horizon a breakthrough in Armenia’s relations with Turkey while the same is not true in Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan. Armenians …

The peoples of the North Caucasus and the majority of Russians are going in different directions mentally, increasing misunderstandings and hostility between them and the probability that this trend will lead to a fundamental break between them, Aleksandr Zhelenin says. And what is most alarming, the Rosbalt commentator says, is …

The statement from the First President came just after evidence of elite conflict began surfacing in earnest, with suggestions of a purge of Nazarbayev elites. After two weeks with nary a peep, save a spokesman statement that he had not fled the country, Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev surfaced with …

The standard logic of the division of labor between Moscow and Beijing in Central Asia holds that Russia is responsible for security and China is in charge of the economy. Following that narrative, it can be asserted that neither power suffered losses during this month’s tumultuous events in Kazakhstan. The …

Blame ‘free’ market reforms that benefit the rich and powerful at the expense of the working class for the country’s recent protests. The recent protests in oil-rich Kazakhstan have highlighted the devastating effects of rent extraction. The country’s largest sellers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), including KazMunaiGas, Kazgermunai, CNPC-AktobeMunaiGas and …

When a Russian-led military force intervened earlier this month, it did more than help Kazakh President Qasym-Johart Toqayev restore and strengthen his grip on power following days of protest and violent clashes with security forces. The intervention brought to the fore a brewing competition for spheres of influence in Eurasia …