COVID-19, severe droughts, supply problems caused by the pandemic, and, most recently, the war in Ukraine have all been contributing factors to a steep rise in the cost of living in Central Asia.

The conditions for LGBT people and access to information about them vary across Central Asia.

Throughout its entire post-Soviet history, Turkmenistan has been ruled by eccentric dictators. It has long been at the bottom of international rankings on press freedom and civil liberties. Most of the population scrapes by, even though the state’s wealth comes from gas and oil. Corruption is rife. And the government controls most aspects of life.

The number of Russian speakers in the region has indeed declined since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But Russian remains strong, especially in cities. It is still the language of education, science, services, and bureaucracy. Official policies and public attitudes among the Russian-speaking are gradually shifting, however, toward a more prominent role for native languages.

Understanding what’s next for Kazakhstan after a week that changed the country forever was the focus of a live Twitter Spaces discussion hosted by RFE/RL on January 13.

Since the Taliban’s August takeover of the country, Beijing’s attention has increasingly turned towards Afghanistan and its neighbors in Central and South Asia. Unpacking all this and more was the subject of a live Twitter Spaces discussion hosted by RFE/RL on October 21 with Sirojiddin Tolibov, managing editor at RFE/RL's Tajik Service; Niva Yau, a Bishkek-based researcher from the Foreign Policy Research Institute and the OSCE academy; and Raffaello Pantucci, a senior associate fellow at London's Royal United Services Institute. The talk was hosted by RFE/RL's China correspondent, Reid Standish.