Aruuke Uran Kyzy

Protests uploaded: Social media and Russia’s protests

The use of social media galvanised protesters in Russia like never before, and the state proved ill-equipped to deal with a fast-mobilising public.

The Wagner Group: a private military company that's not exactly 'private'

The Wagner Group is Putin's most potent weapon in advancing Russian policy objectives while maintaining plausible deniability.

Can Uzbekistan's new leader reform the country?

If the Uzbek president wants genuine reform of religious freedoms in the country, he faces a steep uphill battle.

‘Liberalism is dead’: Putin’s drive to unite the world’s conservatives

The Russian president is presenting himself on the world stage as the father of conservative values, an ideal that doesn’t just appeal to his electorate but perhaps other world powers, too.

The return of Russia to Africa

As Moscow attempts to re-establish old Soviet ties and buy influence in the continent, it is presenting itself as the alternative to old self-interested colonial powers.

Meet Russia's anonymous blogger who was forced to shed his anonymity

With his sharp and witty political commentary, wheelchair-bound Alexander Gorbunov stirred Russia's public discourse, gaining over a million followers on Twitter in a short time and attracting the attention of the police.

One of Istanbul’s last illumination artists and his Ramadan messages

The journey of a 60-year-old Turk who mastered the art of adorning mosques with glittering messages in the holy month of Ramadan.

Crimean Tatars: ‘Religious persecution made us more strong and united’

Russia has been targeting the Tatars with illegal detentions and other threats, even forcing them out of Crimea, but the ethnic minority refuses to accept Moscow's sovereignty

The Russian government's grip over the internet just got tighter

A new law in Russia can pave the way for the government to have greater control over what Russians can access on the internet.

Kazakhstan's leader steps down, or is it a step up?

Kazakhstan's leader for the past thirty years has voluntarily left the presidency, a first in the region.

Is Russia on the path to marginalising its Muslim population?

New laws and rhetoric that defines parameters for acceptable forms of Islam in Russia run the risk of turning into draconian laws that can potentially be used to persecute Russian Muslims.

Why did Russia's new language bill draw flak from the Caucasus?

Most people in the Caucasus feel they are facing a cultural onslaught, equating the bill to the policy of former Russian emperor Tsar Nicholas II, who wanted Russian to be prioritised over other native languages.