Turkmenistan
Turkmen president reportedly rumoured dead as of July 20
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, 62, is rumoured to have died this week, Russian news agency Govorit Moskva reported, citing the director of the Centre for Monitoring Eurasian Problems, Aslan Rubayev
Turkmenistan exposed: Investors warned nation is “teetering on edge of catastrophe”
Despite people going hungry amid economic crisis ruling autocrats continue to pile money into vanity projects, while failing to pay contractors. Eight-lane ‘Turkmen Autobahn’ latest investment to raise eyebrows.
Eurasia’s burgeoning populations to overtake a vanishing population in Eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe faces a demographic catastrophe in the coming decades that will see Central Asia pull ahead of the eastern EU member states in population terms by the end of the century.
Russia restarts Turkmen gas imports after 3-year stoppage
Volumes not yet known but news could be substantial boost for Turkmenistan’s embattled economy.
End of an era of USSR dictators (or not?)
Kazakhstan’s ruler of 30 years Nursultan Nazarbayev has gone. Only he’s not gone. And ordinary Kazakhs who’ve lived through three “Soviet-groomed” decades don’t hold out much hope a handpicked successor will change much about their lives.