Tajikistan

Central Asian countries have been stepping up their drone capabilities.

In recent years, the EU has shifted how it views Central Asia. That effort culminated recently with the first EU-Central Asia leaders summit.

The kind of Iranian drones Tajikistan has an agreement to manufacture are not those seen in the sky over Ukraine.

The war’s negative impacts on regional economies outweigh any incidental benefits, and Central Asians know it.

Since the early 2000s the Central Asian republics have largely kept their debt levels stable.

The informal CIS meeting in St. Petersburg coincides with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday, but it won’t be much of a celebration.

Half a dozen journalists in Tajikistan have been detained in the last few months in a worrying, and wide, crackdown on media in the country.

Moscow denies that Central Asians are being conscripted into the Russian military, but the risk is real.

On the back of high remittances and oil and gas revenues, the outlook for Central Asia’s economies has improved. But it’s not all good news.

A protocol reportedly signed over the weekend would see both vacate four border posts each but is shadowed by domestic critiques in Kyrgyzstan and a lack of clarity in Tajikistan.

Conflicts have intensified across the former Soviet Union, now in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It’s a worrying and disillusioning development for the region.