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☆ As the U.S. Attends the G7, China Hosts a Summit of Its Own
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Nicole Hong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The inaugural China-Central Asia summit is part of China’s broader aim to strengthen economic and political partnerships with like-minded countries, to counter what it sees as a U.S.-dominated world order that is trying to contain and suppress China. Notably, Mr. Xi’s summit was scheduled on the eve of the annual Group of 7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, which begins Friday and will be attended by leaders of the world’s wealthiest large democracies, including President Biden. A major topic for the G7 leaders will be how to address what the United States describes as China’s growing assertiveness. Mr. Xi has sought to deepen China’s influence in Central Asia, part of his efforts to burnish his image as a global statesman. China greeted the leaders of five former Soviet republics — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — on the tarmac with a huge crowd of dancers and jumping children chanting: “Welcome, welcome!

XIAN, China, May 17 - China will for the first time host an in-person summit of central Asian leaders this week, seeking to cement ties in a region seen as Russia's backyard as its relations with the West sour. "Beijing wants to promote a new alternative to the global order, and try to persuade the Central Asian region that this new global order is better for them too," said Adina Masalbekova, a research fellow at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek. For the first in-person summit, Xian is a symbolic nod to the importance of economic ties as the city was pivotal in the ancient Silk Road trade route that spans Central Asia. "One of the biggest trump cards that we expect to see at this summit is a serious opening for Central Asian products to enter the Chinese market. But with the region's main backer Russia caught up in a grinding war with Ukraine and subject to international sanctions, analysts say the Central Asian states will welcome Beijing's overtures.

☆ Victory Day analysis: Putin tried to project strength, but Moscow parade revealed only his isolation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Nathan Hodge | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —For Russian President Vladimir Putin, this year’s Victory Day parade in Red Square was a chance to continue his war on history. It has become a pawn to their cruel and selfish plans.”Despite the pomp of the parade, Putin cuts an increasingly isolated figure. In Russia, Putin and his regime have destroyed these values. A lone Soviet-era T-34 tank leads the procession in Moscow in contrast to the large array of military hardware on display on previous Victory Day parades. “Victory Day is the victory of our grandfathers,” he said.

☆ UN says Taliban envoy can meet Pakistan, China ministers next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

UNITED NATIONS, May 1 (Reuters) - A U.N. Security Council committee on Monday agreed to allow the Taliban administration's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan from Afghanistan next week to meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, diplomats said. Muttaqi has long been subjected to a travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo under Security Council sanctions. According to a letter to the 15-member Security Council Taliban sanctions committee, Pakistan's U.N. mission requested an exemption for Muttaqi was to travel between May 6-9 "for a meeting with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China." The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war. The Security Council committee allowed Muttaqi to travel to Uzbekistan last month for a meeting of the foreign ministers of neighboring countries of Afghanistan to discuss urgent peace, security, and stability matters.

☆ Israel cements ties to Turkmenistan on Iran's border
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Although the countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago, there had only been a temporary Israeli mission in Ashgabat and predominantly Muslim Turkmenistan still has no embassy in Israel. "I came to open an Israeli embassy 17 kilometres from the border with Iran, and to hold a series of meetings with the president and other officials," Cohen tweeted on Thursday. In English remarks to Israeli reporters accompanying Cohen, his Turkmen counterpart, Rashid Meredov, described the embassy inauguration as "a very shining example of our friendship". Cohen, who also met Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, called his visit "historic" and said Israel's ties with Central Asia's "energy superpower" were of strategic importance. "We intend to widen economic relations to include agriculture, water, technology and border defence," Cohen said in a video issued by Israel's Foreign Ministry.

☆ Exclusive: Russia starts fuel supplies to Iran by rail -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, April 11 (Reuters) - Russia started fuel exports to Iran by rail this year for the first time after traditional buyers shunned trade with Moscow, according to three industry sources and exports data. Russia and Iran, both under Western sanctions, are forging closer ties in order to support their economies and to undermine Western sanctions which both Moscow and Tehran cast as unjustified. Iran has been under Western sanctions for years with limited access to global markets. However the rail exports face bottlenecks along the route, the sources said. "We expect fuel supplies to Iran to rise this year, but we already see several issues with logistics due to rail congestion.

☆ World Bank says Ukraine, Russia boost eastern Europe, Central Asia growth outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - The World Bank on Thursday lifted its 2023 economic growth forecast for eastern Europe and central Asia to 1.4% from an earlier 0.1% prediction, citing improved outlooks for both Russia and Ukraine despite their ongoing war. The regional forecast, released just days before the World Bank and International Monetary Fund hold their annual spring meetings, has Ukraine's economy growing by 0.5% this year following a staggering contraction of 29.2% in 2022, the year Russia launched its invasion. Russia's economy shrank 2.1% last year, considerably less than the 3.5% contraction the World Bank forecast in January. For 2023, the World Bank forecast Russia's economy to contract by 0.2%, compared to its previous forecast of a 3.3% contraction. The World Bank's regional grouping includes Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

☆ Killer drones and multi-billion dollar deals: Turkey's rapidly-growing defense industry is boosting its global clout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Drones aren't the only thing elevating Turkey's status as a growing player in the global defense industry. Turnover for the country's defense industry as a whole last year was $10 billion, according to Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries. And the investment shows in the numbers: research and development in Turkey's defense sector "recently increased by 30 percent," the Atlantic Council's report wrote. Turkish defense manufacturers say they are booked for the next several years with orders to help replenish NATO stockpiles. Those firms also have high demand from Turkey's military alone — it is, after all, the second-largest military in NATO after the United States.

☆ Xi snubbed Putin after their summit, calling a meeting of Central Asian countries as part of an audacious power play
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

China's President Xi Jinping has made a power move timed with his visit to Russia. He set up a new meeting of Central Asian countries the week, muscling in on Russia's backyard. Xi invited the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to the first China-Central Asia summit Wednesday, the AFP news agency reported. Analysts say that China has secured significant leverage over Russia in return for its diplomatic and economic support, and that in calling the meeting of Central Asian nations it is seeking to exploit that advantage. China in recent years has increased its economic and security ties with Central Asian nations, which have abundant mineral resources and lie on ancient trade routes between east and west.

☆ Earthquake in Afghanistan kills at least 11, nine of them in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, March 22 (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed and 44 injured in northwest Pakistan by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck in neighbouring Afghanistan late on Tuesday, a Pakistani government official said. At least two people were killed in Afghanistan, a disaster agency official there said. The quake was felt over an area more than 1,000 km wide by some 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year. In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northern Pakistan.

☆ Earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hits northern Afghanistan, killing at least 3
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, March 21 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, killing two in the east of the country and one child in neighbouring Pakistan. The tremor was very deep, 194 km (120.5 miles), and its epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the remote northern Afghan province of Badakhshan. A spokesperson for Red Cross said they had no immediate reports of damages from Badakhshan's capital but were making checks on other areas. "We felt a strong earthquake, according to primary information the main place (affected) was Yamgan District," he said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed over 1,000 people last year.

☆ Photos from Putin's big meeting with China's Xi show no absurdly long tables but feature unexpectedly giant flags
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On Tuesday, he was photographed with China's President Xi next to weirdly tall flags. But for Chinese President Xi Jinping, Moscow broke out long red carpets and massive flags. Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. Photo by PAVEL BYRKIN/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin meets with China's President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with leaders of the countries of the CTSO Monday at a new long table, but this one is round.

☆ Blinken holds talks with Central Asian nations in wake of Ukraine anniversary
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Simon Lewis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Feb 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Central Asia Tuesday to meet officials from all five former Soviet republics following the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Blinken's visit to the capitals of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is his first to the region as the Biden administration's top diplomat. The trip comes just days after the Feb. 24 anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, which has tested Moscow's influence in a region that also includes Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Blinken will meet the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian states in Astana on Tuesday before traveling on to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In Astana on Tuesday, Blinken told Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi that Washington supports the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Kazakhstan, which won independence from Moscow in 1991.

☆ U.S. Aims to Pull Ex-Soviet Republics From Russian, Chinese Orbits
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Vivian Salama | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Kazakhstan’s leadership, in Astana, agreed to enforce Western sanctions against Moscow after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. ASTANA, Kazakhstan—The Biden administration is wooing former Soviet republics in Central Asia, expanding its efforts to prevent Russia from circumventing Western sanctions while providing an opportunity for those countries to ease their reliance on Moscow. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make his first visit to the region on Tuesday with stops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. He will meet officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, a bloc that together with the U.S. is known as the C5+1.

☆ Moscow's decades-old gas ties with Europe lie in ruins
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Vladimir Soldatkin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Washington has long criticised Germany's policy of reliance on Russian energy, which until last year, Berlin had said was a means to improve relations. In October, he mooted an idea of a gas hub in Turkey to divert the Russian gas flows from the Baltic Sea and North-West Europe. The 20-year supply deal is worth about $30 billion in current gas prices. In Europe, gas prices hit record levels and international oil prices shortly after the special military operation began spiked close to their all-time high. Domestic gas prices are regulated by the government and there have been discussions about liberalising the gas market, a sensitive issue for Russian households.

☆ Volunteers who used digital ads to counter Russian propaganda about Ukraine plan to fight misinformation in countries like Syria and Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of volunteer 'spammers' who used ads to counter Russian propaganda about Ukraine plans to expand the campaign. Rob Blackie, organizer of the Breaking Putin's Censorship campaign. Earlier this month, the Kremlin said that anyone found simply posting a link to the banned independent Russian news site Meduza could face a six-year prison sentence. An example of one of the Breaking Putin's Censorship ads, which reads, "Why have 141 countries condemned Russians invasion of Ukraine? Breaking Putin's CensorshipThe group, which has now grown to around 60 volunteers, is already structured similarly to an ad agency.

☆ Caspian seal deaths: Thousands of dead seals wash up in Russia's Dagestan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Mariya Knight | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Around 2,500 endangered seals have been found dead on Russia’s Caspian coast, state-run news agency RIA Novosti reported Sunday, citing authorities in the North Caucasus region. Caspian seals, the only mammals found in the Caspian Sea, have been classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list since 2008. According to RIA, inspectors were patrolling the coastline in search of additional dead seals. Meanwhile, specialists from the Caspian Environmental Center were analyzing samples from the dead seals to identify the cause of death. The mass deaths come after more than 140 Caspian seals were found dead on Kazakh beaches of the Caspian Sea earlier this year, according to KASPIKA, an agency for the conservation of Caspian seals.

WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERSWASHINGTON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday designated China, Iran and Russia, among others, as countries of particular concern under the Religious Freedom Act over severe violations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Blinken in a statement said those designated as countries of particular concern - which also include North Korea and Myanmar - engaged in or tolerated severe violations of religious freedom. The United States has expressed grave concerns about human rights in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, which is home to 10 million Uyghurs. The other countries designated as countries of particular concern were Cuba, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Religious Freedom Act of 1998 requires the president – who assigns the function to the secretary of State – to designate as countries of particular concern states that are deemed to violate religious freedom on a systematic and ongoing basis.

☆ Kazakhstan seeks share of booming Russia-Iran cargo traffic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Zhumangarin said reducing red tape and improving infrastructure could streamline cargo flows. Zhumangarin also said Kazakhstan was considering building a third railway crossing on its border with China. The move could be regarded as either positive or negative for Russia, depending on where the added volumes go. The Central Asian nation is in talks with the European Union about boosting its transit capacity as part of a project to divert China-Europe cargo traffic from Russia to the Caspian and the Caucasus. Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov and Mariya Gordeyeva; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Fossil-fuel companies have more people at the UN's climate summit than the 10 countries most affected by climate change do combined
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Fossil-fuel interests are fighting for natural gas at the United Nations' COP27 climate summit. But natural gas is mostly methane — a greenhouse gas 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide — and it leaks. One-third of the fossil fuel lobbyists Global Witness identified are registered as part of national delegations, according to Dominic Kavakeb, a spokesperson for Global Witness. Fossil fuel influence threatens to undermine progress on one of the most powerful, immediate climate solutions: ending human methane emissions. While methane's consequences are severe, the good news is that countries and industries can quickly slow climate change by cutting methane emissions.

☆ NASA instrument detects dozens of methane super-emitters from space
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The device, called an imaging spectrometer, has identified more than 50 methane "super-emitters" in Central Asia, the Middle East and the Southwestern United States since it was installed in July aboard the International Space Station, NASA said on Tuesday. The newly measured methane hotspots - some previously known and others just discovered - include sprawling oil and gas facilities and large landfills. "Some of the (methane) plumes EMIT detected are among the largest ever seen - unlike anything that has ever been observed from space," said Andrew Thorpe, a JPL research technologist leading the methane studies. Examples of newly imaged methane super-emitters showcased by JPL on Tuesday included a cluster of 12 plumes from oil and gas infrastructure in Turkmenistan, some plumes stretching more than 20 miles (32 km). EMIT, one of 25 Earth science instruments in orbit, could potentially find hundreds of methane super-emitters before its year-long mission ends, NASA said.

☆ Putin forced to endure a 7-minute-long rant from close ally who rebuked the Russian leader and demanded he shows respect
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The President of Tajikistan, a firm ally of Russia, appeared to berate Putin at an international summit. 'We do not need anything; just to be respected," Rahmon said. According to the New Voice of Ukraine, Rahmon also told Putin not to treat central Asian countries "as the former Soviet Union." The incident follows surprising public criticism from India's leader, another ally of Putin, of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in September, India's Prime Minister Modi told Putin that "now is not the time for war."

REUTERS/Ali KharaKABUL, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The Taliban have signed a provisional deal with Russia to supply gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, Acting Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters. Azizi said the deal would involve Russia supplying around one million tonnes of gasoline, one million tonnes of diesel, 500,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and two million tonnes of wheat annually. The office of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is in charge of oil and gas, also did not immediately respond. He said Afghanistan also received some gas and oil from Iran and Turkmenistan and had strong trade ties with Pakistan, but also wanted to diversify. The European Union will ban Russian crude imports by Dec. 5 and Russian oil products by Feb. 5.

☆ Biden nominates Lynne Tracy to be new Russian ambassador
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

President Joe Biden announced he would nominate Lynne Tracy, the current ambassador to Armenia, to serve as U.S. ambassador to Russia. Tracy, a career diplomat, will take over from John Sullivan who left Moscow at the beginning of the month and announced his intention to retire. Tracy served as the second-highest official at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 2014 to 2017 as deputy chief of mission. Tracy's nomination to be ambassador comes at a crucial moment for U.S.-Russian relations amid tensions over the continuing invasion of Ukraine. Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief of mission to Russia, has led the U.S.'s embassy in Moscow since Sullivan left.

☆ Explainer: Does China need more Russian gas via the Power-of-Siberia 2 pipeline?
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Negotiations will be complex, however, not least because China is not expected to need additional gas supply until after 2030, industry experts said. The proposed pipeline would bring gas from the huge Yamal peninsula reserves in west Siberia - the main source of gas supply to Europe - to China, the world's top energy consumer and growing gas consumer. The idea gained impetus when the first pipes of the currently operational Power of Siberia pipeline were laid in Russia's eastern Yakutia region in 2014. DOES CHINA NEED MORE RUSSIAN GAS? Russia's Gazprom already supplies gas to China through the first Power of Siberia pipeline under a 30-year, $400 billion deal, which was launched at the end of 2019.

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