Vladimir Rozanskij

President Mirziyoyev has signed the law that provides for measures to combat extremism and terrorism. Currently, there are 2,300 religious associations of 16 different faiths active in the country, and representatives of religious communities of 130 different nationalities live in the country.

The ‘Centre for the Study of Occupation’ founded by Petr Andrjuščenko, former councillor of the city council, denounces the Russian desire to ‘erase that part of the memory that had been preserved even after the world wars of the 20th century’. The emblematic story of the Drama Theatre that has become a symbol of the conflict in Ukraine.

The company Yandex has increased the percentages for taxi drivers, and has stifled all the other players in the market for the transport of people and goods (including Uber) in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The measures launched by the local antitrust agencies have been ineffective.

The mountain of Noah's Ark, a biblical symbol of ancient Armenia, remains an unresolved issue in the ongoing attempts to revive relations between Ankara and Yerevan. Turkey claims that Kurdish armies are organised on its slopes and does not want to grant any rights to others. And Pašinyan would like to remove the Armenian flags so as not to pursue ‘dreams of the past’.

After a recent renovation, it attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world to Khudžand, the country's second largest city. It testifies not only to local traditions, but is also a landmark of a still faltering economy that wants to find its way back to regional and global trade.

Averted until yesterday in commercial traffic between the East and Europe due to its too high costs, today the Transcaspian route with the blockade of relations with Russia due to the Ukrainian conflict has become the most viable solution. The World Bank estimates that 11 million tonnes of goods will transit it by 2030. But on its growth much will depend on Beijing's choices.

The Muftiat's condemnation of Ajnura Sagynbaeva's statements on sexual relations outside marriage: ‘an open distortion of the precepts of Islam’ that contradicts ‘the moral values of the entire Kyrgyz society’. But there are those who argue that by allowing themselves to be dragged into the media controversy they risk producing the opposite effect, giving her only great publicity.

These days' announced simulations with tactical atomic weapons leave no room for illusions about a possible more conciliatory course of Russian policy. But for the experts 'it is only a reminder that Russia possesses these types of weapons, not that their use is any closer'.

Discomfort in the organisation of parties: young people forced to participate in hours of rehearsals, although the duration has been reduced compared to the past. Events recorded to avert live 'incidents'. A holiday extolled since Soviet times, to reduce the influence of Muslim leaders who claimed adherence to the Islamic calendar.

The decision on Georgia's membership application is expected at the European Council next week. Brussels has already opened up to enlargement as a strategic objective, but asks for guarantees on freedom of public opinion and the role of the oligarchs in the country.

For poet Aziz Isa Elkun - an exile in London - 'it is important to talk about Xinjiang, and the problem is not the Muslim faith, it is human rights'. The Uyghurs want to live as free as their Kazakh or Uzbek 'cousins', and do not recognise China's right to ownership of their soul and identity.

The fate of the Grozny strongman, whose militias are on the front line of the war in Ukraine, continues to hold sway in Russia despite the (uncertainly dated) videos circulated to deny that he is in serious health condition. Chechnya is neuralgic for political balances throughout the Federation.