Central Asia

How does the People’s Republic of China use multilateral institutions in Central Asia? In the 1990s and early 2000s, multilateral bodies were a means of working with the Russian Federation and other countries in the region collaboratively. More recently,...

Wearing face masks stamped with a bright red X, demonstrators marched down Bishkek’s Freedom Boulevard on June 29 in protest of a bill regulating disinformation in Kyrgyzstan. The legislation, widely viewed as an attempt to curb freedom of speech,...

Natural gas supplies to the People’s Republic of China have helped drive Central Asia’s economic growth for the last decade. For no country is this more true than for Turkmenistan: over 90 percent of Turkmenistan’s total exports is natural...

Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting issues beyond public health. In Europe, for example, the crisis is testing the European Union’s collective mission with growing prevalence of national (and nationalistic) approaches to fighting the disease. In the...

China’s COVID-19 outbreak has seen Beijing’s demand for natural gas stutter, after years of breakneck expansion. In February, China's natural gas demand was estimated to have fallen 17 percent year-on-year, and while there were some subsequent indications of recovery...

The United States and the Islamic Republic of Tehran may be closer to conflict than at any point since the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Hawks in the U.S. have for years advocated for the US...

Uzbekistan is undergoing a remarkable transformation. After decades of repression and isolation under President Islam Karimov, who died in 2016, the government of Shavkat Mirziyoyev has embarked on a series of reforms to soften repression, create a freer market...

Over three years ago, in May 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that they would co-develop their Eurasian integration projects, the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the China-led Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB),...

The Eurasian Economic Union has styled itself as a desired and dynamic partner operating in the international arena in pursuit of its member states’ common economic objectives. It has signed several international agreements and boasts a long list of...

In October and November 2017, Central Asia and the Caucasus witnessed yet another set of Russian-led military exercises under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Codenamed “Combat Brotherhood-2017,” the exercises engaged the CSTO’s entire collective forces—from...