Merhat Sharipzhan is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL who focuses on developments in the former Soviet Union.
Speculation grows over possible Zelenskyy-Putin talks, but hopes for peace remain dim. Russia’s demands are unchanged, US commitment is cautious, and Europe is left to lead. As air strikes continue, diplomacy is clouded by distrust, secrecy, and the threat of a frozen conflict.
As peace talks between Ukraine and Russia gain traction, Western leaders insist on enforceable security guarantees for Ukraine. “Article 5-like” protections, European troop deployments, and U.S. support may form a new deterrence model—if backed by credible enforcement.
In a surprise move, Trump called Belarus's Lukashenko before meeting Putin in Alaska last week, urging the release of 1,300 political prisoners. Critics fear it legitimizes a dictator; others see it as a rare humanitarian opening and potential new diplomatic channel.
Russia launched 270 drones and 10 missiles against Ukraine on August 19, just hours after President Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Trump and European leaders in Washington to discuss security guarantees. The strikes killed 15 people and wounded at least 76.
US President Donald Trump has written that it's going to be "a big day in the White House" as his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and European leaders arrived for talks on ending the fighting in Ukraine.
Kazakhstan has chosen China to build its third nuclear plant, deepening Beijing’s role in its energy sector. As Russia faces sanctions and funding issues, Astana is shifting toward China as a more stable partner, signaling a strategic pivot in its nuclear and geopolitical future.
In the Russian-occupied cities of Donetsk and Mariupol, an escalating water crisis has pushed daily life to the brink of survival, forcing officials from the local level all the way up to President Vladimir Putin to seek solutions.
In Russian-occupied Donetsk and Mariupol, the taps have all but run dry. What little water reaches homes comes for only a few hours every few days—often rust-colored, foul-smelling, and undrinkable.
Today the most significant "no-fly" areas are a consequence of sharply rising military risks and blanket airspace closures by nations around the globe. The sky is no longer neutral territory. It's contested, fragmented, and weaponized.
In a theatrical session of dynastic diplomacy, the former president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, and his daughter, Oguljahan Atabaeva, traveled to Baku in mid-July and were received by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his daughter, Leyla Aliyeva.
Across Kazakhstan, and more broadly in Central Asia, an evolving censorship achieved by various means -- from algorithmic deletions to orchestrated account takeovers and from legal persecution to digital coercion -- is plaguing the region's fledgling independent media.
With global scrutiny escalating over a Kyrgyzstan-registered cryptocurrency exchange allegedly moving billions of dollars in just a few months, the deafening silence from Kyrgyz officials is raising urgent concerns about the country’s readiness to regulate its burgeoning digital assets sector.
The deaths of two ethnic Azerbaijanis amid allegations of torture during a police raid last week in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has quickly escalated into a diplomatic confrontation highlighting difficulties in Moscow's relations with its former Soviet republics.
Four Russian journalists have been sentenced by a Moscow court to 5 1/2 years in prison each for their activities linked to the late opposition leader Aleksei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which Russian authorities have designated as an "extremist organization."
In a rare bid to break his international isolation, Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko welcomed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Minsk, marking a symbolic deepening of ties between the two countries.
US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink will step down, the State Department said, leaving the post vacant at a time when crucial peace negotiations are under way between Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow.
In a swift response to China’s decision earlier on April 9 to impose 84 percent tariffs on a wide range of U.S. imports, President Donald Trump announced that the United States will immediately raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 125 percent.
The European Union says it is entering a "new era" in its relationship with Central Asian nations following a summit aimed at making inroads in a region dominated by Russia and China.
Russian law enforcement officers raided the Yekaterinburg residence of Mikhail Volkov, the father of prominent opposition politician Leonid Volkov, a key ally of late Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.
The body of a fourth missing US soldier has been recovered near Pabrade, Lithuania, the US Army said in a statement on April 1.
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