Central Asia's week that was #5
Tajiks facing a rough welcome in Russia, growing trade ties with Afghanistan, Uzbekistan's inflation and gas woes, mixed environmental bulletins from Kazakhstan, and curious healthcare developments.
So this happened…
Tajikistan’s Foreign Ministry issued an urgent warning to its citizens to refrain from travelling to Russia unless “absolutely necessary.” Tajik officials said on Sunday that almost 1,000 Tajiks were being detained at Vnukovo airport in Moscow, seemingly for in-depth security vetting. Detainees were being held in unsanitary holding facilities at Vnukovo and other Moscow airports, the officials said. More than 600 Tajiks were deported from Russia over a five-day period. Heightened security checks in Russia — directed at Tajik men in particular — have been in place since the deadly atrocities committed at the Crocus City Hall venue outside Moscow in April. Russian investigators say the killings were perpetrated by Tajik nationals. In a phone exchange on Tuesday, Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, told his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, that this situation is undermining bilateral relations. Lavrov reportedly claimed no specific nationalities were being targeted by heightened security measures. Muhriddin retorted that this was untrue.
Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubayev met with a minister in the Moscow city government, Sergei Cheremin, to urge authorities in the Russian capital to “create favorable conditions for labour migrants from Kyrgyzstan.” Security sweeps by Russian law enforcement have mainly been focused on Tajiks, but they have affected nationals of Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian nations too. In one episode last month, police in Moscow burst into the home of a Kyrgyz diplomat demanding to see his papers.
Kazakhstan says it will join ongoing efforts to build railway lines across Afghanistan. Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov’s office said new routes joining Uzbekistan to Afghanistan and Afghanistan to Pakistan will enable a 10-fold reduction in delivery times for goods across those countries. Astana pledges to provide domestically produced railway infrastructure for this undertaking.
Transportation officials from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan met in Astana to discuss creating a tariffs regime that will accelerate the passage of trains from China through to Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and the Middle East. The objective is to reduce delivery times for goods moving overland from China to the Turkmen-Afghan border to 10-12 days. Kazakhstan has separately offered businesses in Afghanistan the use of a logistics terminal that it recently opened in the Chinese city of Xian to facilitate the importation of solar panels, diesel generators, mobile phones, and office equipment.
Uzbekistan’s Central Bank says it sees inflation rising this year to 9-11 percent as a result of the hike in electricity and gas tariffs coming into effect this month. Headline inflation had been on the decline since the start of 2024, reaching 8 percent in annual terms in March. The decrease in inflation rates for food goods has been particularly pronounced, the regulator said. Considering all these factors, the Central Bank said it would leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 14 percent.
A former Interior Minister in Kazakhstan was arrested on charges related to the deadly unrest in January 2022. Prosecutors say Yerlan Turgumbayev, who was the minister at the time of that turmoil, is being investigated on suspicion of abuse of office. Another one-time senior security official, the ex-deputy head of the National Security Committee, Daulet Yergozhin, who is now serving a lengthy sentence on attempted coup charges, is reportedly being investigated over possible links to a government data leak believed to have been masterminded by Chinese spying agencies.
Delegations from Armenia and Azerbaijan will hold peace treaty negotiations in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty. A date for the talks is yet to be decided. A Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Kazakhstan is not offering to serve as a mediator in the negotiations. Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Azerbaijan in March, and then Armenia in mid-April. This week, he hailed the upcoming negotiations, which he said would “contribute to the speedy establishment of strong and long-term peace in the South Caucasus.”
Adakhan Madumarov, the leader of a prominent opposition party in Kyrgyzstan arrested on treason charges in September, was released from jail following a court ruling. Madumarov’s alleged offenses occurred while he was secretary of the national security council between 2008 and 2009. He was targeted for investigation following his vocal opposition to a contentious border demarcation agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. A court found Madumarov guilty in March, but he was not sentenced due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. He was nevertheless kept in custody. The election commission last week revoked Madumarov’s parliamentary mandate.
Uzbekistan imported $360 million worth of natural gas from January to March, more than double the amount it bought over the same period in 2023. Although it sits atop large amounts of its own gas, Uzbekistan is growing increasingly dependent on imports to meet domestic demand. Russia has emerged as the most dependable supplier of the fuel. At the same time, Uzbekistan also exports gas, to China, albeit in relatively small amounts. In January-March, it sold $45.4 million worth of gas.
And there’s this too…
A man in Uzbekistan was ordered to serve five years in prison for making insulting remarks about President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Facebook. The 27-year-old left the offending comment underneath a post about the president’s plans to attend a parade in Moscow marking the Victory Day holiday in May 2023. He is not the first person to fall foul of Uzbekistan’s de facto lèse-majesté rules in recent times. A court in November sentenced a 19-year-old man to two years and six months in prison for writing a rude comment about Mirziyoyev on Instagram.
Water levels at Kazakhstan’s Lake Balkhash have risen sharply since the start of 2024, from 159 centimetres to 174 centimetres, the Water Resources Ministry announced. Particularly large amounts of water from the Ili River, which runs across the border with China, poured into Kapshagai reservoir, enabling the diversion of 2.3 cubic kilometres of water from Kapshagai to Balkhash. The fortunes of Balkhash have been closely watched by environmentalists concerned that the lake is gradually drying out.
More than 180 dead seals have washed up on the shores of Kazakhstan’s Caspian coast over the past month. Agriculture officials said the bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition, indicating that the animals died some time in winter. Government scientists have taken samples from the bodies in a bid to determine the cause of death.
A ban on bookmakers and online gambling in Uzbekistan will be lifted in 2025. Officials say they recognize the prohibition had no effect in stemming enthusiasm for betting, and that gamblers have simply been spending their money on foreign websites. They estimate that Uzbeks spend anywhere from $350 million to $1 billion on gambling every year. The government says it will put measures in place to protect people at risk from gambling addiction.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative removed Uzbekistan from its watchlist in recognition of the government’s efforts to bolster intellectual property protections. Improvements cited by the USTR include rule changes enabling customs officers to independently stop and seize counterfeit goods at the border. Uzbekistan has been on the monitoring list for 24 years. Instances of trademark violation were once ubiquitous in Uzbekistan. In a landmark ruling in 2019, anti-monopoly authorities ordered a local drinks producer to alter labelling they deemed too similar to the Coca-Cola brand.
Talks between a visiting delegation of British healthcare professionals and officials in Uzbekistan reportedly produced an agreement for 10,000 Uzbek healthcare workers to be employed in the United Kingdom. The agreement envisions English-language training and monthly salaries of $3,000 for the Uzbek medical workers. No timeframe for this recruitment drive has been reported. Uzbekistan has long struggled with its own shortages of medical workers. This problem is mainly fuelled by low salaries. Work in healthcare is some of the worst-paid in Uzbekistan.
Surgeons in Kyrgyzstan will later this month perform liver and bone marrow transplantations for the first time in the nation’s history. Health Minister Alymkadyr Beishenaliyev said while announcing this news that 15 people are poised to receive liver transplantations and that another four will get bone marrow transplantations. The operations will be paid for by a sponsorship fund overseen by President Sadyr Japarov.
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