Author: Akaner Firat

Almaty will host the second European Union – Central Asia Economic Forum on May 18-19 to discuss ways forward on policy, programs and investment needed to develop a more integrated and interconnected regional market engagement, according to the EU Delegation to Kazakhstan. Photo credit: asiatv.kg. The forum will focus on three key priority areas – a green and digital transition, a better business environment, and trade and connectivity. The participants will also discuss measures to strengthen sustainable connectivity and promote regulatory approximation in the economic area between the EU and Central Asian countries. The forum will provide recommendations for engagement…

Kyiv thinks traitors helped the Russians take Kherson and Chernobyl early in the war. PRESS PLAY TO LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE Ukraine is deepening a purge of double agents in its spy service, saying top-level traitors laid the ground for last year’s Russian invasion by helping enemy forces seize the southern city of Kherson and Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the north. Tetiana Sapian, spokesperson for the state investigations bureau of Ukraine, said Russia’s FSB intelligence operatives had infiltrated both Ukraine’s SBU security service and local government, undermining Ukraine from within with help from fugitive pro-Moscow Ukrainian officials, who fled…

Rescuers of the Committee for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense completed their mission in Turkey. In honor of their return, an appropriate award ceremony was held in Dushanbe. Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda presented them with industry medals. The awards were presented to the rescuers on behalf of the leader of the Central Asian country, Emomali Rahmon. In addition to medals, the specialists who returned from the Republic of Turkey received gifts, military ranks and certificates. In total, they were able to rescue three people from the rubble in Turkey. Five days after the start of the devastating earthquakes, they pulled a 6-month-old baby and…

As confrontation between Russia and the West intensifies and Russia’s military ambitions grow, developments in the former Soviet Union (FSU) region are increasingly relevant to geopolitics and energy security. Kazakhstan, in particular, has a significant transit position, in addition to supplying oil and gas exports to Europe and China. Kazakhstan’s troubled energy sector faces challenges that are being exacerbated by sanctions pressure on Russia, its main economic partner, and deteriorating Russian-Kazakh relations. All this directly affects the country’s socio-political stability, as evidenced by the massive unrest of January 2022. This Q&A discusses the current state of Kazakhstan’s energy sector, its…