Vladimir Rozanskij

As part of the conversion to a war economy over the past three years, the Russian Attorney General's Office has confiscated 411 large companies from private individuals, with assets exceeding 30 billion dollars. Among the main managers of these operations are the two oligarch brothers closest to President Vladimir Putin, Arkady and Boris Rotenberg.

Kobakhidze's government avoids mentioning the Russians on the anniversary of the harsh Soviet repression. Former president Zurabishvili accuses ‘anonymous foreign forces’ of the massacre. Relatives of demonstrators arrested during pro-European marches in recent months gather at the victims' memorial.

Despite the importance that the region has acquired from a geopolitical point of view, in the five countries that emerged from the Soviet fog at the beginning of the 1990s, obstacles to development remain, accentuated by increasingly uncertain migration and by the underground economy subject to widespread corruption and criminal organisations.

A proposal to modify the voting regulations is causing controversy in Bishkek. It would impose registration fees three times higher than the current ones on aspiring members of parliament in order to be able to present their candidacy. ‘Only the rich will be able to stand for election’.

Despite bans on demonstrations and pickets, environmentalists have still managed to make their voices heard against the work in progress in the parks of the Russian capital. According to the municipal authorities, the work is necessary to improve ‘the care and use of green spaces’, but according to the opponents it is simply a favour to the ‘business-minded building lobbies’.

After much hesitation and meetings at the level of individual countries, now in Samarkand the European Union has openly declared its intention to ‘raise relations to the level of strategic partnership’ with the region as a whole. But local leaders, who aim to ‘diversify’ their foreign policy, are waiting to see how many resources Brussels will really put on the table.

With the border agreement, after four years of deadlock, air links have been re-established and trade routes re-opened. The agreement could usher in a period of strong economic growth, especially for Tajikistan, the most underdeveloped country in all of Central Asia.

The Kremlin would like to create a traditionalist far-right party, led by special military operation veterans, to be merged with the heirs of Vladimir Zirinovskij to spur the same deputies of United Russia into more convinced patriotic activism. But the move is viewed with nervousness by Zyuganov's communists, who represent the traditional ‘popular and leftist’ Russian soul.

Controversy sparked In Uzbekistan over the small fish farms that disappeared immediately after their inauguration was broadcast live on TV in a village in the Namangan region. A story that recalls the tradition of ‘deceptive demonstrations’ that has regularly resurfaced in the region since the time of the tsars' visits.

Tensions are growing between the president of the Caucasian republic and Moscow. The main reason for the disagreement is said to be information from the FSB services about the frequent negotiations not agreed with the Kremlin between Kadyrov, who has been ill for some time, and the monarchies of the Golgo to determine the future of his assets and the security of his family members.

The Eurasian military alliance has presented new guidelines for law enforcement operations to be applied in all member states to prevent ‘terrorist infiltration’. Last year 420 illegal organisations were identified, but there were also many summary actions against Tajiks after the attack on Krokus City Hall. Dushanbe is insisting that its citizens fully legalise their residence status in Russia by the end of April.

Debit cards and various kinds of talony, the ‘coupons’ for the lean years as in Gorbachev's perestroika, are becoming increasingly widespread and widespread in today's Russia. But with a thousand roubles charged per month, it's not much to cope with the economic crisis. And there are those who are once again calling for the prices of basic necessities to be regulated from above in the typically Soviet way.