Vladimir Rozanskij

​​Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil facilities are also having repercussions in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with rising prices, a shortage of aviation fuel and growing uncertainty over energy security. Meanwhile, Moscow is seeking supplies from Kazakhstan, which has restricted exports to protect its domestic market.

In Tajikistan, heatwaves with temperatures consistently above 40 degrees in summer are taking their toll on 2.5 million children, who are particularly vulnerable to water shortages. Almost a third of the country’s population is under 15 years of age; according to scientists’ data, they will have to cope with increasingly extreme temperatures throughout their lives.

EU Special Representative Stiprais is calling for an update to cooperation policies that takes account of the increasingly close ties between the countries in the region, which have been highlighted by Kyrgyzstan’s election to the UN Security Council. The “shared” Kambarata hydroelectric power station and the local satellite internet connection system are the flagship projects.

Kiev’s increasingly intense attacks, even on Moscow and St Petersburg, are leading the propagandists of the Russian invasion to accuse their own leadership ever more openly of failing to understand the situation on the front line. And former General Popov, who was removed from his post in 2023 after criticising Gerasimov, is now being portrayed as a ‘victim of the truth’.

Even during the Soviet era, the region had a unified energy system linking Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Today, the idea of an electricity grid that optimises infrastructure is gaining traction again, given that energy demand in the region could rise by around 40 per cent by 2030.

Russian authorities are banning motorbikes from the roads between 10 pm and 6 am because they claim the noise interferes with Russian military operations to shoot down Kiev’s aircraft. The first vehicles have already been impounded for those who disobey. But everyone is now aware that the electronic defence systems no longer work.

The lack of recognised legal status exposes thousands of Central Asian women to serious dangers in Turkey. The case of two Uzbek women whose bodies were found in rubbish bins caused a stir in Istanbul this year. Without documents, working in private homes is often their only option for survival, but at the same time it is a trap.

In an extensive interview with TASS, Metropolitan Sergij of Singapore described the mission of his exarchate – which today stretches from Korea to Indonesia, across countries with Buddhist or Muslim majorities – as “difficult and stimulating”. “Dialogue on faith? Here it does not begin with dogma, but with the beauty and silence of an Orthodox church”

The Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, has spoken of Kazakhstan as a possible third-party custodian of Tehran’s enriched uranium. Astana possesses significant nuclear expertise and, since 2019, has hosted the world’s only low-enriched uranium bank. The main obstacle is not logistics, but trust: only Russia and China could guarantee Iran the return of its uranium should the agreement fail.

According to a report published and subsequently censored in the state media, as many as 250,000 men who have returned from the front are struggling to find work in Russia. The website Veter contacted some of them and recounted their stories, which take us back to the period following the Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan, a time marked by many unresolved social tensions.

Following the entry into force of new EU regulations providing for facilities in third countries, Astana and Tashkent are being cited as possible locations. These proposals are linked to their proximity to Afghanistan and the availability of vast tracts of land. Brussels would offer visa facilitation in return. However, the two countries in question have denied the reports, partly due to domestic opposition.

By targeting the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Moscow has struck the sacred site it has used for centuries as evidence of its "special spiritual mission", which it refused to cede to the Ukrainians until its complete evacuation. Now it will be necessary to rebuild the place, like after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, and the Great Patriotic War against the Nazis.