Merhat Sharipzhan is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL who focuses on developments in the former Soviet Union.
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.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s, have finalized the text of a long-awaited peace agreement aimed at establishing formal relations, marking a significant step toward ending decades of hostilities.
Senior U.S. Republican Party figures have been pushing back against President Donald Trump's latest statements attacking his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The president of the European Parliament said the presidential election in Belarus on January 26 is a "sham" and encouraged Belarusians to continue striving for democracy.
NATO and EU leaders agreed to launch a monitoring mission of the Baltic Sea in the wake of several "serious incidents" damaging critical undersea infrastructure, some of which are suspected to involve vessels that form part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet.
Russia's top Islamic body has approved a religious edict that allows Muslim men to practice polygamy, which contradicts Russian law that prohibits individuals from entering multiple registered marriages simultaneously.
Russian lawmakers have approved a bill that restricts how "foreign agents" can access their income inside the country as the government continues to clamp down on political opponents amid the war in Ukraine.
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov submitted his resignation on December 16 amid an unfolding scandal surrounding the detention of senior officials from the State Tax Service.
Police and security officials have cordoned off a large area near Dusanbe after a drone resembling a military unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crashed in a nearby town in a region where there are both Tajik and Russian military bases.
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