Aibek Biybosunov is a correspondent for RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service in Bishkek. In 2015, he graduated from Kyrgyzstan's Jusup Balasagyn National University.
Kyrgyz officials used to pay homage at lavish birthday parties to the mother of Kyrgyz crime lord Kamchibek Kolbaev. But now she is facing trial in her bedroom as the country's populist authorities seek to gain the proceeds of her slain son's former empire.
Former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev is reportedly going to build a garment factory in Kyrgyzstan in a bid to mend ties with relatives of some of the 80 protesters killed and injured in a 2010 revolution. An apparent ally in this venture is President Sadyr Japarov, a onetime Bakiev protege.
The Kyrgyz racehorse Karakyz has emerged victorious in multiple Central Asian horse-riding championships, earning legendary status among spectators as the fastest horse in the region. The mighty mare has dominated the At Chabysh race, one of Central Asia's oldest equestrian competitions.
Despite major economic challenges and an energy crisis in his country, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has initiated the construction of a new presidential palace with claims that it would be fully funded by investors who were given valuable state land in exchange.
An investigation by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service shows how a single cryptocurrency farm sucks more electricity from the state grid than major factories and gold mines combined, just as officials proclaim a crisis in the energy sector. A top state energy official may be benefiting from its operations.
Official trade statistics for Kyrgyzstan highlight some unusual trends in 2022, the year Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered unprecedented sanctions against Moscow.
There are burned-out shops, destroyed homes, and many stories of death and destruction on both sides of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border following clashes between the two countries that have claimed around 100 lives.
An investigation by RFE/RL indicates that Russia has redeployed troops from a base in Kyrgyzstan to the front line in Ukraine. Locals say some 300-500 contract soldiers were based there in late 2021, but have since been sent to Ukraine, a claim confirmed by activists and a soldier's family.
An RFE/RL film crew accompanied Kyrgyz scientists to the frozen peaks of the Tian Shan mountains, where data collected over several decades paints a clear and grim picture: the glaciers are shrinking.
People are lining up outside pharmacies in Central Asian countries, only to find a lack of medicines, rising drug prices, and little help from the government.
