Merhat Sharipzhan

Donetsk Separatists Dig In For Street Fighting

Ukraine's pro-Russia separatists say they won't give up Donetsk, their largest stronghold, without a fight. Now they are digging in for battle.

Volunteers Try To Get Supplies To Ukraine's Forces

For years the Ukrainian army has been underfunded and neglected. So much so, that volunteers are now raising money to get soldiers the most basic supplies.

Ukrainian Army Shows Mixed Performance Against Insurgents

Fighting is ramping up fast in eastern Ukraine and so far the Ukrainian Army has shown combat capabilities that vary from very bad to very good. Why the mixed performance?

Kazakh Opposition, Media Face Ban

Kazakh authorities want to brand two opposition groups and several media outlets as extremist and ban them.

In Kazakhstan, A Season Of Murder And A Lost Local Hero

This week, police in Kazakhstan's idyllic Ile-Alatau national park made a grisly discovery: the bodies of 11 people, including several forest rangers, all bearing multiple stab wounds and some burned beyond recognition. Officials have made no arrests and offered no motive for the bizarre killings, which have sparked comparisons to another unresolved crime -- the mass shooting in May of 14 border guards and another ranger on the remote Kazakh-Chinese border.

Uzbek Opposition Leader's Brother Sentenced To Five More Years

The mystery over why the brother of a prominent Uzbek opposition figure was not released from prison as scheduled has been solved -- he is serving an additional five-year term.

Postwar Diary: The Lone Photograph

I was 41 in 2004, when I was first shown this black-and-white picture: four men posing on horseback, one with a baby boy in his arms. It was the first time I'd ever seen my grandfather, Parkizat Sharipzhan. He's the man in his early 30s on the far right, with a briefcase in his hands.

Boxer's Shooting Latest In Series of Suspicious Deaths

The recent shooting death of Kazakh boxer Yermek Serikov is the latest in an ugly series of sports-related crimes. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, more than 20 prominent sportsmen in former Soviet republics have died under suspicious circumstances.

Tengiz Gudava, A 'Fighter To The End'

Tengiz Gudava, a former RFE/RL correspondent and a highly respected Central Asia and Caucasus analyst, died this week in Prague at the age of 55.

Kazakh Journalist's Disappearance Remains A Mystery

On March 30, 2007, Oralghaisha Omarshanova, a journalist with the Astana-based weekly newspaper "Zakon i pravosudie," disappeared shortly after publishing an article focusing on a violent clash two weeks earlier between Chechens and Kazakhs in two villages in southern Kazakhstan. Most media coverage of the incident focused primarily on the ethnic nature of the violence. Omarshanova was the first journalist to ask a different set of questions.

More Religious Intolerance In Central Asia

There are no signs of any easing in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, or Kazakhstan, notwithstanding all four countries' constitutional guarantees of rights and freedoms.

Kazakh Politician's Killing Haunts Nazarbaev Regime

Three years ago, Kazakhs were shocked by the news that an opposition party leader had been found shot dead, execution-style, in an Almaty suburb. Altynbek Sarsenbaev had been considered the leading potential challenger to President Nursultan Nazarbaev, the former head of the Kazakh Communist Party who has served as president since 1991. But what happened next was even more shocking.

Obama Victory Sparks Hopes For Change In U.S. Policy In Central Asia

During the Soviet era, America and freedom were synonymous for many in the Soviet Union and elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain. That feeling increased even more after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Central Asians welcomed their independence as mainly the result of the successful standoff between the Free World led by the United States, and the Totalitarian World led by the Soviet Union. But the "pragmatism" of U.S. policy has left many hoping such idealism will return to how Washington approaches Central Asia.

Central Asia Balks At Pandora's Box Of Separatism

The results of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, held in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, this week, were very different from what Russian President Dmitry Medvedev confidently predicted beforehand.

Georgia Crisis Highlights Kazakh Balancing Act

For the majority of those who call themselves former Soviet citizens, the death of the acclaimed but controversial Russian writer Aleksander Solzhenitsyn and Russia's armed conflict with Georgia have nothing in common. But for citizens of at least one former Soviet republic, these two tragic events are somehow related.

In Central Asia, Water Could Lead To Fire

As Central Asia suffers the effects of global climate change, seeing less rainfall each year, the water shortage in the region is generating progressively greater attention -- and greater tensions between the region's governments.

Kazakhstan: Premier Says Assassins Sought Nazarbaev

Kazakhstan: Chechens Receive No Welcome

Kazakhstan: Opposition Groups Prepare For Polls

1998 In Review: Kazakhstan's Momentous Autumn