In our podcast this week, hosts Aigerim Toleukhanova and Joanna Lillis discuss how Tajikistan is rounding up journalists following a violent crackdown in the Pamirs earlier this year. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is detaining Karakalpak activists from Uzbekistan – and Tashkent is mum on the constitutional changes that prompted unrest in July. 

But it was the Russian and Turkish presidents stealing headlines last week as they jostled for influence in Central Asia.  

In our podcast this week, hosts Aigerim Toleukhanova and Joanna Lillis discuss how Russians fleeing conscription are upending life in Central Asia and placing Kazakhstan in an awkward position. 

Also, we hear an update from Peter Leonard, our Central Asia editor, on the political drama after the recent fighting between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the worst inter-state violence in Central Asia since independence. In the volatile border areas, many people are angry and worried after the two countries agreed to withdraw troops, fearing they have been left exposed. 

And after 600 days, a small group of protestors outside China's embassy in Almaty is still demanding answers about the fates of their loved ones in the Xinjiang gulag. Also awkward for Kazakhstan.

In the first episode of our new podcast: When Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin visited Central Asia this week, it was clear the Chinese president held the upper hand. Xi made a strong statement of support for Kazakh territorial integrity and sovereignty, while Russia's leader struggled to explain his faltering war in Ukraine. It was a watershed movement in the region's independent history, as the countries draw closer to China and further from Russia. 

Also, the worst violence yet between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan flared as their leaders were sitting alongside the Russian and Chinese presidents at a regional security summit. The violence made the Shanghai Cooperation Organization look like just another toothless talk shop. 

Plus: Goodbye Nur-Sultan. Snap elections. And more.