Kubatbek Aibashov is a correspondent for RFE/RL'sKyrgyz Service.
A burgeoning market for Kyrgyz passports has sprouted in Russia, offering greater travel and other freedoms amid international sanctions and domestic repressions since President Vladimir Putin launched all-out war on Ukraine. Not everyone in the Central Asian nation is happy about it.
October came and went without promised construction work beginning on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, but Kyrgyzstan broke ground on several other significant Chinese investments.
When it comes to reexports, Kyrgyzstan has rediscovered its mojo amid the international trade chaos caused by the Ukraine war. But entrepreneurs in the Central Asian country are discovering that new trading advantages can fade as soon as the conditions in top export destination Russia change.
Kyrgyzstan's textile industry was once hailed as a bright spot in a struggling economy. But the decline of the ruble relative to the Central Asian country's currency, the som, has seen a collapse in orders from Russian buyers.
An RFE/RL investigation reveals how sanctioned Western electronics make their way to Russia via Central Asian firms -- some set up shortly after the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine -- and end up in the hands of companies that have supplied the Russian defense industry.
Official trade statistics for Kyrgyzstan highlight some unusual trends in 2022, the year Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered unprecedented sanctions against Moscow.
