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Corruption

U.S. Suspends Enforcement of Foreign Bribery Law: Should Kazakhstan Be Worried?

U.S. President Donald Trump has issued an executive order suspending enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), effectively allowing U.S. companies to offer bribes to foreign officials and politicians. This decision is expected to prompt tighter scrutiny of potential corruption among officials in Kazakhstan. On February 12, 2025, Trump signed an executive order pausing enforcement of the FCPA, a landmark anti-bribery law that has regulated U.S. business practices abroad since 1977. The order directs the U.S. Department of Justice to suspend enforcement of the law, which previously criminalized bribery of foreign officials by American companies. Trump argued that the FCPA puts U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage internationally. “The law looks good on paper, but in practice, it's a disaster,” Trump stated, emphasizing that excessive regulatory oversight harms U.S. economic and national security interests. Under the FCPA, companies and individuals could face up to 15 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for offering or coordinating bribes. The law was enforced in 24 cases in 2024 and 17 cases in 2023. Trump’s executive order tasks the attorney general with reviewing the law’s provisions. U.S. companies have previously been linked to corruption scandals involving high-ranking Kazakhstani officials. The most infamous case, known as Kazakhgate, dates back to the late 1990s. American businessman James Giffen was accused of funneling tens of millions of dollars in bribes, along with luxury gifts, to secure access to Kazakhstan’s vast oil reserves. The investigation implicated former President Nursultan Nazarbayev and ex-Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbayev, who allegedly received payments through offshore accounts in exchange for favorable investment conditions. However, Kazakhstani officials were never formally charged, and Giffen ultimately received a minor fine. In December 2024, Mazhilis deputy Yermurat Bapi warned that a similar scandal — dubbed Kazakhgate-2 — could soon unfold. “According to my information, a new grandiose scandal is brewing in the United States,” Bapi stated in an interview with Elmedia. “The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing a new criminal case against global kleptocrats who previously relied on American companies, insurers, and consultants. If they used these services, they will face prosecution.” Speculation surrounding Kazakhgate-2 intensified after Nazarbayev’s December 2024 trip to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, Trump’s decree has now cast doubt on whether the case will proceed. Another major corruption-related dispute involving Kazakhstan is the Stati case. Since 2010, the Kazakhstani government has been embroiled in legal battles with Moldovan oligarchs Anatol and Gabriel Stati over the early termination of their subsoil use contracts. The dispute has led to litigation across multiple jurisdictions, including the U.S., U.K., and EU countries, with Kazakhstan's National Fund assets being temporarily frozen. Some sources suggest that Timur Kulibayev, Nazarbayev’s son-in-law, played a role in the case. Corruption concerns are not limited to Kazakhstan. In late January 2025, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin publicly criticized Kyrgyz authorities for allegedly extorting Russian businesses operating in Kyrgyzstan. “We urge the Kyrgyz leadership to cease administrative pressure on our companies and ensure the protection...

Sanctions

U.S. Urges Tajikistan to Enforce Sanctions on Russian Firms Amid Ongoing Compliance Review

The Tajik government has received an official letter from the United States requesting compliance with sanctions against several Russian companies operating in the country, Chairman of the State Committee on Investment and State Property Management Sulton Rakhimzoda announced at a press conference on February 11. According to Rakhimzoda, the U.S. has requested clarification on what measures Tajik authorities plan to take regarding the sanctions. “This is a sensitive topic, and it is currently under consideration,” he stated. He added that sanctions against Russian companies are not a new phenomenon and that businesses affected by the restrictions should already have mechanisms in place to adapt. “It is clear that sanctions impact companies to varying degrees. However, as far as I know, they have already developed strategies to operate under these conditions. These issues are also being discussed in negotiations with the government,” Rakhimzoda said. He noted that the Investment Committee does not oversee this sector directly, but that the relevant government agencies are handling the matter. Following the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the U.S. and the European Union imposed strict sanctions on several Russian enterprises. In January 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Gazpromneft Tajikistan along with its parent company, Gazprom Neft. Tajik authorities have stated that the sanctions will not affect oil product imports into the country. However, experts warn that the restrictions could eventually impact other companies cooperating with Gazpromneft Tajikistan.

Aral Sea

Kazakhstan to Plant Nearly Half of Its Dried Aral Seabed with Saxaul

By the end of 2025, saxaul forests will cover approximately 40% of Kazakhstan's portion of the dried-up Aral Seabed, according to Azamat Abuov, head of the Department of Reproduction and Use of Forests and Flora at the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. Afforestation efforts in the former Aral Sea, once the world’s fourth-largest inland body of water, aim to restore the region’s fragile ecosystem. Both public and private entities are participating in the project, which seeks to establish a “green belt” to stabilize the soil and curb the spread of more than 100 million tons of salt, sand, and dust from the exposed seabed to surrounding areas each year. Saxaul has been selected as the primary species for reforestation due to its suitability for the region’s arid conditions. “Currently, work on the Kazakh section has been carried out across 475,000 hectares, with additional efforts focused on natural regeneration. If we consider all initiatives together, afforestation has already covered 612,000 hectares. Plans for 2025 include an additional 428,000 hectares, bringing the total to 1.1 million hectares by the end of the year, ultimately covering about 40% of the dried-up area with saxaul,” Abuov said at a press conference in Astana. He added that approximately 300 local residents are actively involved in the project, collecting and planting saxaul seeds. Ruslan Akhmetov, director of the Almaty branch of the Kazakh Research Institute of Forestry and Agroforestry, highlighted that planting in the dried-up Aral Sea basin presents challenges due to high soil salinity, making saxaul the optimal choice as a salt-resistant plant. To support the initiative, a nursery has been established at the site to cultivate seedlings adapted to local soil conditions. Alibi Gaziz, general director of the Republican Forest Breeding and Seed Center, announced that two wells will be drilled in the dried seabed. “These will serve as oases, providing watering holes for animals and nurseries nearby. Water will be drawn from depths of 500 - 600 meters, with moderate salinity, making it suitable for irrigating plants and sustaining wildlife,” he explained. According to Gaziz, wildlife has already begun returning to the saxaul plantations in Kazakhstan’s section of the former Aral Sea, with hares, foxes, and gerbils spotted in the area, signaling the ecosystem’s gradual recovery. At its peak in the mid-20th century, the Aral Sea spanned 68,000 square kilometers along the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border. However, large-scale water diversion from its two main tributaries, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, for cotton irrigation in the 1960s triggered its rapid decline. By 2007, the sea had shrunk to just 10% of its original size, marking one of the planet’s worst environmental disasters. As The Times of Central Asia previously reported, Uzbekistan is also implementing afforestation measures to restore its portion of the dried-up Aral Sea, while broader regional efforts continue to improve water inflow to the Northern Aral Sea.

Natural Gas

Turkmenistan to Start Natural Gas Shipments to Turkey

Long-discussed shipments of Turkmen natural gas to Turkey could be just weeks away. Several options have been discussed for bringing gas to Turkey, but news since February 10 indicates Turkmenistan and Turkey chose a swap agreement involving Iran. Turkmenistan’s state information agency TDH reported the head of the country’s Halk Maslahaty (People’s Council) Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian by phone. During that call, Berdimuhamedov “announced the agreement with (Turkey’s) BOTAS company on the transit of Turkmen natural gas through Iran to the Republic of Turkey..." Since there is no pipeline connecting Turkmenistan to Turkey, the agreement involves a swap deal whereby Turkmenistan ships its gas to Iran and Iran makes a like amount of its gas available to Turkey. However, on February 11, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar posted on X (formerly Twitter) confirming an agreement between BOTAS and Turkmengaz. Bayraktar said “… gas flow is planned to start on March 1, 2025.” There were no details about the volume of gas to be delivered, but Turkish officials have previously been mentioning an initial volume of some 2 billion cubic meters (bcm). Turkish officials have been pushing for this deal for more than two years, with the ultimate aim of turning Turkey into a gas hub to shipments to Europe. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Turkmenistan in December 2022 to meet with Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov (the son of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov). Erdogan and Aliyev were hoping for an agreement on construction of a pipeline to carry Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan and from there to Turkey. Those talks were inconclusive, but did lead to a series of other meetings of officials of the three countries to discuss alternative means to ship Turkmen gas to Turkey. The swap arrangement involving Iran was one of the possibilities raised during these meetings. However, Turkey is still clinging to the plan for construction of a pipeline that would eventually boost Turkmen gas supplies to Turkey up to 15 bcm. Turkish Ambassador to Ashgabat Ahmet Demirok said in September 2024 that his country was looking to purchase 300 bcm of Turkmen gas over the next 20 years. The agreement is good news for Turkmenistan, but it also shows again how dependent Turkmenistan is becoming on Iran for gas exports. When Turkmenistan became independent in late 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the only gas pipelines in Turkmenistan led north to Russia. Turkmenistan was exporting gas to Russia for most of the years after independence, but in 2024 the latest agreement between the two countries expired and both countries indicated they would not renew Turkmen gas exports. The first post-Soviet pipeline built in Turkmenistan connected to Iran. That pipeline started operations at the end of 1997. Another pipeline from Turkmenistan to Iran was launched in 2010. The two pipelines have a combined capacity to carry some 20 bcm, but a pricing dispute between Turkmenistan and Iran in late 2016 led Turkmenistan to...

Internet Access

Innovative Solution Connects Kyrgyzstan’s Most Remote Village to the Internet, Sparking Further Development

Until recently, the village of Zardaly, in the Batken region of southwest Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous area on the border of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, was almost completely cut off from the rest of the world. There were no road connections and certainly no information highway. That all changed recently, however, when the Kyrgyz chapter of the Internet Society, an international organization aiming to bridge the digital divide, led a project to connect Zardaly to the internet. The project has inverted the arc of the typical development model, with the new technology subsequently sparking investment in more traditional infrastructure such as roads, energy production, and access to government services. [caption id="attachment_28530" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter[/caption] The idea of connecting Zardaly to the internet was prompted in large part by the Covid-19 pandemic, the co-founder of the Internet Society’s Kyrgyz chapter Talant Sultanov told The Times of Central Asia. “During the pandemic, we were working on a project to ensure continuing education for kids whose schools were forced to close. The government passed a law mandating the availability of online education for children in the country, but some schools lacked internet connectivity and kids were therefore effectively missing out on education. So, we decided to find the most difficult case in this regard and use it as an example proving that establishing an internet connection can be done anywhere,” Sultanov explained. [caption id="attachment_28531" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter[/caption] Zardaly’s remote location presented some steep challenges. The standard solution based on fiber-optic cables was not possible because of the mountainous terrain and extreme weather conditions, while the satellite technology for such a project was only just emerging when the project was originally conceived, and so was also not an option. Instead, Sultanov explained, the project team designed a solution around radio signals. “We basically found the closest internet location and installed radio transmitters,” he said. This kind of solution required direct lines of sight between the connection nodes, however, so hubs had to be built on mountaintops, further increasing the difficulty level. [caption id="attachment_28532" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter[/caption] Donkeys Carrying Solar Panels The project’s designers also had to deal with the fact that there was no paved road leading to Zardaly, nor any electricity in the village. So, to get this modern technology up and running, the team turned to the traditional transport mode of donkeys to move the equipment needed to install the network of hubs and towers, which meant traveling along a treacherous unpaved path etched into the mountainside. “Our engineer suffered a broken arm from falling boulders, and another nearly fell off a cliff,” said Sultanov. [caption id="attachment_28533" align="aligncenter" width="2560"] Image: Internet Society, Kyrgyz Chapter[/caption] To overcome the lack of electricity, the team had to bring in solar panels and batteries to store the energy. Sophisticated gel batteries were initially used but later had to be swapped out for traditional car batteries, which locals were more familiar with and able to repair on...

Crime

Kyrgyz Citizen Arrested in U.S. for Illegally Exporting Firearms to Russia

A Kyrgyz citizen has been accused of illegally exporting American semi-automatic rifles and pistols from the United States to Russia via Kyrgyzstan. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the charges on its official website. U.S. federal authorities in Brooklyn have indicted 46-year-old Kyrgyz national Sergei Zharnovnikov, alleging that he orchestrated a criminal scheme to smuggle American firearms to Russia using a front company. “Zharnovnikov traveled from Kyrgyzstan to the United States last month and was arrested on January 24, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada, while attending the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show to meet with U.S. gun dealers,” the Department of Justice stated. Zharnovnikov is currently in custody and is set to stand trial in the Eastern District of New York at a later date. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison. According to U.S. prosecutors, Zharnovnikov conspired with others to violate American export control laws by shipping firearms to Russian buyers. He reportedly signed a five-year, $900,000 contract with a Virginia-based arms company to export rifles from the U.S. to Kyrgyzstan. However, the company’s export license explicitly prohibited the resale or re-export of these weapons to Russia. Investigators allege that Zharnovnikov disregarded these restrictions, instead selling the firearms to a front company in Kyrgyzstan, which then transferred them to Russia. U.S. authorities discovered that the Bishkek-based company had signed a $10 million contract with a Moscow-based firm, suggesting the weapons may have been delivered in multiple shipments. U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York John J. Durham emphasized the gravity of the case: “The defendant used a complex scheme to circumvent export controls and ship semi-automatic firearms to Russia. Today’s indictment sends a clear message that we will vigorously enforce laws designed to protect U.S. foreign policy and national security.” This is the second high-profile case involving the smuggling of American weapons to Russia. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that Kyrgyz security services had intercepted attempts to re-export American-made arms and weapons components to Russian organized crime groups.