Central Asia

Friday, 17 May, 2024

Thursday, 9 May, 2024

Property sector

Kazakh oligarch Timur Kulibayev sells Mayfair mansion for £35mn

Sale to North Wind Capital shows how London’s super-prime property market is holding up

Wednesday, 10 April, 2024

Tony Barber

Terror attack creates a central Asian dilemma for Putin

Tajiks are among those blamed for the massacre but Russia’s war economy depends on immigrant Muslim workers

Sunday, 24 March, 2024

Russia

Four suspects appear in court as Russia mourns concert attack dead

At least 137 people killed and 180 injured in assault claimed by Isis

Sunday, 24 March, 2024

Russia

How Ukraine war distracted Moscow from Isis-K threat

Russia’s security services have shifted focus away from Islamist terror

Friday, 10 November, 2023

Money laundering

UK is a ‘leading enabler’ of central Asian kleptocracies, say MPs

Failure to prosecute money laundering crimes ‘facilitates’ corrupt regimes

Monday, 30 October, 2023

ArcelorMittal SA

ArcelorMittal agrees to transfer its Kazakhstan operations to government

Nationalisation talks follow series of fatal accidents, including coal mine fire on Saturday that killed at least 44

Friday, 27 October, 2023

News in-depthUzbekistan

The legal battles over ‘princess of Uzbekistan’ and her frozen millions

Civil cases in Switzerland could adjudicate who is entitled to Gulnara Karimova’s $840mn fortune

Friday, 13 October, 2023

Paris+ par Art Basel 2023

Central Asia in the spotlight at Asia Now fair

Craft, nomadism and spirituality feature prominently in the region’s artistic practices

Thursday, 28 September, 2023

White collar crime

‘Princess of Uzbekistan’ indicted as crime syndicate boss

Former dictator’s daughter and socialite Gulnara Karimova faces charges over organisation known as ‘the office’

Tuesday, 19 September, 2023

Italian economy

Italy turns to Kyrgyz shepherds to revive Sardinian farming

Farming body seeks recruits from 6,000 miles away in fight to help rural economy

Monday, 3 July, 2023

Tony Barber

The ABC of alphabet reform in Kazakhstan

Moving from Cyrillic-based to modified Latin script will distance the central Asian state symbolically from Russia

Friday, 19 May, 2023

Xi Jinping pushes Central Asian defence co-operation plan

Chinese president’s offer to help with security comes as Russian influence in the region weakens

Thursday, 18 May, 2023

Venice Architecture Biennale 2023

Uzbek pavilion lures Venice visitors into the labyrinth

The country’s contribution to the architecture biennale takes the form of an ancient mazelike fort

Thursday, 18 May, 2023

Chinese politics & policy

Xi Jinping courts Central Asia as Russian influence weakens

Chinese president holds two-day summit with leaders of region crucial to security, trade and energy

Wednesday, 12 April, 2023

Chess

China’s Ding starts badly in world championship match

Plus: in this week’s puzzle — can you mate in three in 10 minutes?

Thursday, 23 March, 2023

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan to step up monitoring of goods re-exported to Russia

Goods crossing the border surged last year as sanctions stymied Moscow’s access to western markets

Thursday, 2 March, 2023

War in Ukraine

US launches new crackdown on Russian sanctions busting

Push by three agencies comes amid fears imports flowing from UAE and Turkey are fuelling war in Ukraine

Thursday, 23 February, 2023

War in Ukraine

West probes potential sanction dodging as exports to Russia’s neighbours surge

EU trade with economies including Central Asia and the Caucasus has leapt as their sales to Moscow increased

Wednesday, 25 January, 2023

Polymetal International PLC

Polymetal prepares to shift listing from London to Kazakhstan

Move would allow gold miner to split its Russian and Kazakh businesses

Monday, 12 December, 2022

Chess

Magnus Carlsen to play world rapid and blitz starting Xmas Day

Puzzle: can you solve this picturesque mate in two?

Wednesday, 9 November, 2022

Alisher Usmanov

Uzbekistan lobbies EU to lift sanctions on Alisher Usmanov

Tashkent backs Uzbek-Russian oligarch in challenging punitive measures imposed after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine

Saturday, 22 October, 2022

Europe Express

Russia loses influence over the post-Soviet space Premium

As the attack on Ukraine runs into trouble, states from Moldova to Kazakhstan are refusing to follow Moscow’s lead

Thursday, 13 October, 2022

News in-depthKazakhstan

Kazakhstan ‘chips away’ at its reliance on Russia

Moscow’s regional influence wanes on opposition to Ukraine invasion in central Asia and the Caucasus

Saturday, 1 October, 2022

News in-depthWar in Ukraine

Desperate Russians fleeing Putin’s war draft stream into Kazakhstan

Some 100,000 people and counting have sought refuge in the former Soviet republic to avoid conscription