Vladimir Rozanskij

To limit the damage to strategic targets from Ukraine’s remote-controlled drone counterattacks, Russia is shutting down mobile networks in many areas. In some regions, signals have been cut off indefinitely. People try to adapt as best they can, but some businesses now accept only cash.

Speaking to the State Duma Committee on Development of Civil Society, Issues of Public Associations and Religious Organisations, Abbess Xenia, head of the Moscow Patriarchate's legal department, said that the most fervent senior officers and generals who adhere to traditional religions should be promoted to command positions in the military. She also called for an explicit ban on “atheism”, deemed “unworthy and immoral”, diametrically reversing the principles of Soviet censorship against religion.

At the president's request, the Ministry of Culture has released a “set of moral standards” to guide the behaviour of citizens and youth. Key concepts include respect for state symbols and historical heritage, tolerance, and the rejection of any expression of hatred. The heroes of the epic Manas trilogy are held up as role models, while five texts have been proposed for the new national anthem.

The five countries in the region are increasing their purchases of these devices, which are increasingly used in conflicts, from Turkey, China, Russia, and Iran, and are opening their own production lines in agreement with foreign partners. Suspicions of triangulation that would allow Russia to be supplied while circumventing sanctions.

The Attorney General's Office has secured the banning of an “international movement” which, in reality, local authorities have used to lump together everyone from environmentalists to Pokemon fans, all accused of being part of “conspiracies organised to weaken patriotic spirit among young people”. Anthropologist Arkhipova: it is a new “millenarian ideology”, according to which only “true Russians” will be saved.

Since the beginning of July, all refugees who fled the Taliban regime in 2021 have been receiving text messages ordering them to leave Tajikistan within 15 days. Those living in the country legally and many former collaborators of the pro-Western government in Kabul are also targeted. There are reports of men, women and children being loaded onto small buses. This crackdown comes on top of others already in place against Afghan exiles in Pakistan and Iran.

Grozny is expanding its network of Muslim educational institutions by increasing the number of Islamic schools and inviting well-known teachers from around the world. Even Grand Mufti Salakh Mezhiev, who is very close to Ramzan Kadyrov, often meets with students and gives lecture series. However, according to many observers and activists from the Chechen diaspora, what is being taught is an increasingly rigid form of Sufism.

Over the last five years, enrolment numbers have halved, while Uzbekistan's state universities continue to lose ground to private and foreign institutions. Only enrolment fees continue to rise.

Although it has not yet achieved full political recognition from Moscow, Kazakhstan has signed an agreement with the Taliban for an important railway line. Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan are also promoting agreements with Beijing's blessing. The only exception remains Tajikistan, where the issue of discrimination against the Tajik minority in Afghanistan still weighs heavily.

A new decree signed by the president lists the various forms of use in Russia of words adopted from other languages that the authorities must minimise in the official spoken language. But since its origins, Russian has seen a continuous mixing of terms from European and Asian languages. Starting with the word Rus' itself.

A competition promoted by the respective broadcasters chose the most representative athletes from each of the five countries. From the judoka rejected by the Russians who climbed onto the podium at the Olympics for Tajikistan to the Uzbek footballer who plays in the Premier League and led his national team to World Cup qualification. And the Kazakh who discovered he was a marathon runner after an illness.

Visits to local administrations by the head of the Bishkek security services, Kamchybek Tašiev, have ended in sensational arrests. The senior official describes the fight against corruption as “a mission received from President Žaparov”. But there are those who doubt the effectiveness of this “clean-up campaign” if, in a country like Kyrgyzstan, procedures are not radically changed to make them transparent, effective and digitised.