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...
Maxim Bakiyev, who was arrested in London on Friday, is wanted in the US on fraud charges The United States has asked Britain to extradite the arrested son of Kyrgyzstan's fugitive ex-president on fraud charges, the American embassy in Bishkek said on Saturday. The request looked likely to be granted, since the United States and Britain have an extradition agreement. ...
Nationalists threaten to return to the streets to topple another government unless it expropriates the Kumtor goldmine In an impoverished young nation with a habit of overthrowing its rulers, the future now balances on a mountain of gold at the top of the world, where the air is so thin collapsing visitors may be rushed to a pressure chamber for oxygen. After two revolutions in eight years, nationalists...
The eternal flame that wasn't, some very expensive wellies and postage stamp regrets Eternal flames aren't always for ever: a war memorial in Kyrgyzstan was snuffed out last week after authorities failed to pay the gas bill. ...
That absurd but sinister arrest in Belarus of a website editor for publishing pictures of teddy bears is just one example of the way in which the former Soviet satellites, and related east European communist states, have failed to allow freedom of the press to flourish. The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), which keeps a watching brief on affairs in many of the countries, has now registered...
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 vast Le Sporting banquet hall, where 800 guests have responded to an invitation from one of central Asia's most powerful, and secretive, oligarchs. The host has packed the venue's gardens with white roses and arranged for entertainment from the singer Jennifer Lopez and French DJ David Guetta. Several guests execute an impromptu lezginka, a traditional dance from the Caucasus, and a crowd forms to...
Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series ...
The annual exhibition in Bishkek where cat owners gather to display their feline friends ...
s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail on God...
s emergency ministry said a young woman and two children from a different village who came into contact with Isakunov were hospitalised on Tuesday with the high fever and swelling around the neck and armpits characteristic of bubonic plague, local news outlets reported. A total of 131 people, including 33 medical personnel, have been quarantined, although none of them have yet exhibited symptoms of...
s military presence, at the Kant base, till 2032. Officially opened in 2003, it costs Moscow $4.5m a year. Russia has promised to invest in hydroelectric schemes, too. Gazprom, which has just bought up the debt-ridden national operator Kyrgysgas for a symbolic sum, plans to invest $640m in modernising and rebuilding the country...
s predecessors who was ousted in a 2010 revolt. Bakiyev, who is seeking asylum in Britain, has been accused of channelling millions of dollars of public money into private bank accounts. This year he was sentenced in absentia to 25 years on corruption charges, which his lawyers say are politically motivated. "Is Britain hosting the kids of [Muammar] Gaddafi or Bashar al-Assad? Why are there double...
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...
Third crewman still missing after military refuelling jet comes down over mountainous border region The bodies of two US pilots who were killed when their military refuelling plane crashed in Kyrgyzstan have been found by rescue workers. The Kyrgyz emergencies minister, Kubatbek Boronov, said search teams found the remains on Saturday. Their KC-135 plane crashed on Friday afternoon about 100 miles...
Emergencies ministry says aircraft went down 100 miles west of US base used for troops transiting into and out of Afghanistan A US military tanker-refueling plane crashed on Friday in the rugged mountains of Kyrgyzstan, the central Asian nation where the US operates a military base key to the war in Afghanistan. There was no immediate word on casualties. The search for survivors was complicated by...
s capital, according to Irina Bandurina, an administrator at the school. The two brothers reportedly spend five months in Dagestan from September 2001 until March 2002. 2002 Dzhokhar and his parents move to the US in 2002. They settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the father, Anzor Tsarnaev, opens a garage. 2004 Tamerlan and his two sisters, Alina and Bella, arrive in the US to join the rest of...
s struggle played a central role in their lives Fuzzy CCTV footage taken from the sidelines of the Boston Marathon shows them standing side by side , two brothers peering over the heads of the crowd before the two bomb blasts that would kill three and injure dozens in one of the worst attacks on US soil since 9/11 . The images, released by the FBI, bear out the descriptions of the two young men by...
s offshore base prevents UK regulator from intervening This article is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Rotapharm Limited and Rovshan Tagiyev. A parliamentary commission in the remote and impoverished post-Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan is examining claims that a British pharmaceutical company has supplied it with poor-quality drugs. Dialysis patients were switched this year to a cheap...
worth of state assets. Belokon says the claims are politically motivated and without foundation. In an emailed statement, Belokon said: "I am still in dispute with the Republic of Kyrgyzstan and [the] Kyrgyz side continue to provide worldwide false information about me, perhaps in an effort to negatively influence the process against me." The allegations are an irritation for the banker whose profile...