Tag Archives: security

Kyrgyz President says Russia should leave Kant

DEC. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a press conference, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev said that Russia would have to quit its air base at Kant near Bishkek. He didn’t elaborate or give any details but he did say that he wanted all foreign military to quit Kyrgyzstan. Russia has signed a deal with Kyrgyzstan to operate from Kant until 2032. It started operations at Kant in 2003. The US quit its airbase outside Bishkek in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Tajik and Kyrgyz military fire shots

NOV. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Shots have been fired by Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards on their shared border, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The border is one of the most tense in Central Asia. RFE/RL said that nobody had been injured in the fighting and that it wasn’t clear if the shots had been fired into the air as warnings or had been aimed at security personnel.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Kazakh court sentences gunman to life

NOV. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Aktobe, west Kazakhstan, sentenced seven men who shot dead eight people in a series of attacks earlier this year to life jail sentences. Eighteen more people who helped the group were given between two and five year prison sentences. The judge described the men, who attacked a police outpost, as Islamic extremists.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Uzbekistan seals military deal with Russia

NOV. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia and Uzbekistan have signed a deal that will improve their military cooperation, media reported quoting the Russian defence ministry. It said that one of the main aims of the agreement was to update Uzbekistan’s military with modern Russian-made equipment. The deal highlights both the more open nature of Uzbekistan since Islam Karimov, president since 1991, died in September and the influence that Russia has over the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Fighting becomes intense in Turkmen-Afghan border

NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Residents of Marchak, a village on the Turkmen-Afghan border,told the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that fighting in the border areas was becoming more serious. The Turkmen government has said it was concerned about a move north by the Taliban but has denied that there is currently a problem. The RFE/RL report suggests otherwise.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Armenia buys Russian missiles

NOV. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia has bought a number of Iskander-M missiles from Russia, Armenia president Serzh Sargsyan told Russian media. The Iskander-M missile is one of Russia’s most advanced missile systems. Mr Sargsyan said that Armenia had been obligated to by the missile system to balance against the threat posed by Azerbaijan. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)f

Russia approves military deals with Uzbekistan

NOV. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev approved an agreement to develop military technology ties between Russia and Uzbekistan, an early indication that ties between the two countries are already improving less than two months after the death of former president Islam Karimov. Acting president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has made improving Uzbekistan’s international relations a priority. Russian president Vladimir Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to visit Uzbekistan after the death of Karimov in September.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Kazakh court sentences IS sympathiser

NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Astana sentenced a man to six years in jail for promoting literature supporting IS in Syria. The unnamed man reportedly encouraged his followers on social media sites to join him in Syria to fight for IS.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Turkey arrests Uzbek and Tajik extremists

NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish security services arrested three dozen men from Central Asia and the South Caucasus who, they said, were working for the extremist IS group and had been planning a series of suicide attacks in Turkey’s biggest city. They said that the ringleaders were an Uzbek man and a Tajik man. Governments from Central Asia and the South Caucasus are increasingly concerned about their citizens heading to Syria to fight for IS.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Turkmen minister visits Pakistan

NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s defence minister Colonel-General Berdiyev Yaylym Yagmyrovich flew to Rawalpindi in Pakistan to meet with the head of the Pakistani army General Raheel Sharif, media reported. According to the reports the main focus of the trip was regional security and the growth of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The meeting is important because it is more evidence that Turkmenistan, normally reclusive and proudly neutral, is increasingly concerned about regional stability.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)