s takeover of the Crimean peninsula Russia's takeover of the Crimean peninsula has drawn condemnation from the west, but reaction has been more varied in the 14 former Soviet republics in Russia's "near abroad". Many have played a balancing act between Russia and the west, and almost all have significant Russian-speaking populations – like the one that served as a justification for Moscow's intervention...
Police sources said that they believe religious hatred could have been the motive behind the attack A young man dressed as "Father Frost" Russia's equivalent of Father Christmas was stabbed to death in Tajikistan on Monday in an attack police believe was motivated by religious hatred. A crowd attacked Parviz Davlatbekov, 24, and stabbed him with a knife as he visited relatives in the early...
Leader of Islamic Revival party taken to hospital after being severely beaten outside house, according to colleague A leader of Tajikistan's largest opposition party, the Islamic Revival party (IRP), was severely beaten on Friday evening in Dushanbe, a colleague said, in a sign of rising tensions before presidential elections due in November. The IRP is the only opposition party represented in the...
Wednesday, 22 November 2006, 14:03 C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 002113 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN EO 12958 DECL: 11/22/2016 TAGS PREL, RS, TI SUBJECT: WHETHER TO COOPERATE: MIXED SIGNALS FROM THE RUSSIANS IN DUSHANBE CLASSIFIED BY: Tracey Jacobson, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy Dushanbe, STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 1. (C) Summary: On September 21 Embassy Dushanbe, together with...
Tuesday, 01 August 2006, 12:12 C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001464 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/RUS, EUR/CARC, PM, S/P EO 12958 DECL: 8/1/2016 TAGS PGOV, PREL, MARR, GG, RS, TI SUBJECT: OLD-GUARD TAJIK MINISTER OF DEFENSE OBSESSES ON NATO, GEORGIA DUSHANBE 00001464 001.2 OF 002 CLASSIFIED BY: Richard E. Hoagland, Ambassador, Embassy Dushanbe, State Department. REASON:...
Series of leaked dispatches detail litany of challenges facing former Soviet republic none worse than its president Tajikistan is losing the battle against the flow of drugs from neighbouring Afghanistan and is characterised by "cronyism and corruption" emanating from the president downwards. A series of leaked US diplomatic dispatches released by WikiLeaks paint a bleak picture of Central...
s a rather flippant introduction to a weighty subject. Vladimir Putin's dream of a Eurasian Union, a vast trade and political bloc stretching from China to the edge of the EU, began taking shape in 2010 with the ECU, a free-trade customs union binding Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. A carelessly worded ECU regulation on the absorbency of non-natural materials has sparked colourful protests from wearers...
s electoral commission has reported. Rakhmon, 61, won 83.6% of the vote, the commission spokesman Adumanon Dodayev said on Thursday. The president...
t just David Cameron who has been criticised this week for cosying up to a repressive dictator in a former Soviet state – Jennifer Lopez performed at an event in Turkmenistan on Saturday night. In a statement to Associated Press, Lopez's publicist said: "Had there been knowledge of human rights issues any kind, Jennifer would not have attended." Here we present a handy guide to the "-stans" so no pop...
s 1992-97 civil war between President Emomali Rakhmon's secular government and his mostly Islamic opponents. He and other former warlords who got official jobs in the power-sharing deal have gradually been driven out of the government as Rakhmon has sought to tighten his grip on power and stamp out all signs of radical Islam. The government has previously accused Ayombekov of running a tobacco-smuggling...
s Le Monde as "contaminated publications", which he blamed for the country's deteriorating international image. A week earlier, a senior politician accused the Brussels correspondent of the Romania's public radio of "intoxicating the international public opinion and foreign officials by transmitting false information." In Bulgaria , the prime minister, Boyko Borisov, attacked the media for sceptical...
s mentality First it was Kazakhstan that was left unamused by Borat. Now it's the turn of its neighbour Tajikistan. The central Asian country has decided not to screen Sacha Baron Cohen's latest spoof blockbuster, The Dictator, after authorities concluded the movie was incompatible with the nation's "mentality". The film – which features Baron Cohen as General Aladeen, the tyrannical ruler of the oil-rich...
The Oxfam photography exhibition, After the Thaw, marks 20 years of independence in the former Soviet Union with an insight into the lives of everyday people from Armenia to Azerbaijan ...
BBC World Service correspondent in Tajikistan, Urunboy Usmonov, has told a court he was tortured after being detained two months ago. Usmonov said he was beaten, his arms were burned with cigarettes and he was forced to sign a confession that was dictated to him. He has maintained, as has the BBC World Service, that the charges against him - of being a member of Hizbut-Tahrir, an extreme Islamist...
Urunboy Usmonov accused of being member of extreme Islamist organisation A BBC journalist who was detained for a month in Tajikistan is reported to have gone on trial on Tuesday. Urunboy Usmonov, a reporter for the BBC World Service, was arrested in June accused of being a member of Hizbut-Tahrir, an extreme Islamist organisation that is banned in the former Soviet republic. He was due to appear in...
BBC World Service reporter Urunboy Usmonov has been released from prison in Tajikistan on bail. I reported yesterday that he was said to be "frail and frightened" after spending more than a month in jail. Usmonov, pictured here, was reportedly held on accusations that he was a member of Hizbut-Tahrir, an extreme Islamic organisation. This was strenuously denied by his family and the BBC. Peter Horrocks,...
s prosecutor general of Tajikistan has requested that a summary of the case should be passed to the president, Emomali Rakhmon. A statement from the the BBC World Service says it hopes the process will come to a speedy conclusion and lead to the release of Usmonov and the clearing of his name. The BBC regards the allegations against their correspondent as "completely unfounded", adding" "We believe...
s draft bill has been watered down: the version presented to parliament then would have banned all children from attending any religious worship at all. But the present law says only that "parents are obliged … not to let children [or] teenagers participate in the activity of religious organisations, with the exception of those officially enrolled in religious education (excluding funerals and mourning...
The BBC World Service has issued a further statement expressing concern about the detention of their correspondent in Tajikistan, Urunboy Usmonov . He was arrested a week ago by the Tajik security services and a BBC statement registered its alarm about his safety. He has been denied regular and confidential access to his lawyer, and has not been allowed to see his family or colleagues. Urunboy (aka...
s security services, who searched Usmonov's house. Usmonov's family claimed that the BBC Central Asian Service journalist looked as though he had been "beaten up", according to the corporation. His family has not been allowed to see him. Usmonov was then taken away and, according to the corporation, accused of having links to Hizb ut-Tahrir – an Islamist organisation that is banned in Tajikistan. A...