This week Russia’s largest oil company, LUKoil, clinched a vital deal - its first in Turkmenistan - to develop three Caspian offshore fields. Further evidence, according to Stratfor, of President Berdymukhammedov’s willingness to break with tradition and end his country’s relative isolation. Elsewhere, a suggestion for closer political union with Russia made by Kyrgyzstan’s opposition leader has been greeted with derision, according to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Felix Kulov’s plan for a confederation of former Soviet states was made in a television broadcast on May 30th. Nevertheless, some see Russian influence behind a recent upsurge in calls for the US base at Manas, established in 2001 as part of the War on Terror, to be closed.
The legacy of a different war, Tajikistan’s civil conflict of 1992-1997, continues to destroy lives, reports the BBC. The danger posed by unexploded cluster bombs long after the final ceasefire is evidence, says the UN, that such weapons should be banned. And in the capital Dushanbe, refugees from fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan are suffering harassment at the hands of officials, according to Reuters Alertnet.
Reports from Uzbekistan suggest that freedom of religion remains seriously curtailed by the state. Norwegian site Forum 18 documents the treatment of the country’s Jehovah’s witnesses. It also carries the story of imprisoned Pastor Dmitry Shestakov’s move to a labour camp further away from his wife and children. Meanwhile the Uzbek government’s campaign against Islamic militancy has led to the destruction of scores of homes along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border. All this against the background of increasing uncertainty over President Karimov’s plans for the future of his regime.
In Shuchinsk, Kazakhstan, a two-day conference organised by the government and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe explored ways of keeping up momentum in the field of legal reform. President Nazarbayev has also claimed that his country’s GDP is set to top $100 billion this year, with annual growth rates of 10% expected to continue.
Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.
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