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Start-ups

Maksim Stepanenko’s Path from Kyrgyzstan to Silicon Valley

Maksim Stepanenko’s career has taken him from Aydarken in southern Kyrgyzstan to Silicon Valley. After co-founding Operator, an artificial intelligence startup acquired by OpenAI, he chose to step away rather than join the buyer. Stepanenko told The Times of Central Asia that he is now taking time off and working on new projects. From Aydarken to MIT Stepanenko was born in Aydarken, in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region. Before entering university, he represented the country at the International Physics Olympiad. He received an honorable mention in Singapore in 2006, a silver medal in Iran in 2007, and a bronze in Vietnam in 2008. His route to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was not immediate. After his first application was unsuccessful, he spent almost a year studying in Germany before entering MIT in 2009 to study computer science. While there, he worked as an undergraduate research assistant at the MIT Media Lab. Early Engineering Roles Stepanenko graduated in 2012. His early experience included two summer internships at Google and a role as one of the first software engineers at Locu, a startup founded by MIT graduates. Locu helped local businesses manage their online listings. A business could update its information once and distribute the changes across services including Yelp and Facebook. GoDaddy acquired the company in August 2013 for a reported $70 million. In 2014, Stepanenko joined cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase as employee number 21. Over five years, his work included Coinbase Commerce and the USDC stablecoin, as well as Coinbase Ventures. “I graduated in 2012 and moved to [San Francisco] to work here, at a different startup. Around 2013-2014, I started spending more and more time on crypto – Bitcoin Talk was the popular forum at the time. I was finding it more and more interesting. And then, at some point, I decided I wanted to explore working full-time in this space. At that time, there wasn't really any legitimate company in the space. Coinbase was the only company that was already relatively well known, at least here in Silicon Valley. So, I ended up joining Coinbase,” Stepanenko previously told Compound. Co-Founding Primer In 2019, On Deck’s Erik Torenberg introduced Stepanenko to Ryan Delk. The two co-founded Primer, an education startup offering online learning activities and, later, small in-person schools. [caption id="attachment_59010" align="aligncenter" width="1774"] Ryan Delk (left) and Maksim Stepanenko (right)[/caption] Primer initially focused on homeschooling. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it developed online clubs where children could pursue shared interests and work together on projects. The company later allowed children to create and run their own clubs. It then developed microschools, combining small groups of students with in-person instruction and digital learning tools. The company’s history records expansion to Alabama in 2025 and Texas in 2026. Primer raised a $3.7 million seed round in 2020, led by Founders Fund. In April 2022, it announced a further $15 million round, led by Founders Fund and co-led by Khosla Ventures. Stepanenko left Primer in November 2022. “I decided to step away from the company after...

Migration

Russia Expels 32 Uzbek Migrants as Deportations Rise in Novosibirsk

Russian authorities expelled 32 Uzbek citizens from the Novosibirsk region on October 16 for violating migration regulations. Court bailiffs escorted a reported total of 47 foreign nationals out of the country that day, including citizens of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan. Over the course of the week, 91 people were expelled from the region. The migrants were identified during police raids in two districts of Novosibirsk and the surrounding Novosibirsky district. Those expelled paid for their own tickets home. Violations of Russia's entry and residence regulations can result in fines ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 rubles (approximately $25–62), as well as administrative expulsion. Under Russian law, expulsion generally also means a five-year ban on re-entering the country. Expulsions from the region have risen sharply. By mid-September 2026, authorities had expelled 1,524 foreign nationals from the Novosibirsk region, compared with 958 during the same period a year earlier, an increase of approximately 59%. Uzbek citizens account for a substantial share of those expelled. By July, authorities had removed 618 Uzbeks out of a total of 1,314 foreign nationals, or approximately 47%. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were the next most frequently represented countries. The increase in expulsions comes as fewer foreign workers are obtaining work permits in the region. According to figures presented to regional lawmakers, approximately 27,000 work patents were issued in the first eight months of 2026, down from 34,000 during the same period last year. Russia is also tightening national requirements for migrant workers and their families. In July, Russia enacted legislation requiring migrant workers to demonstrate that they can financially support themselves and dependent family members. The changes also require children covered by the provisions who turn 18 to obtain their own work patent or another legal basis to remain in Russia. The main provisions take effect on January 1, 2027. As The Times of Central Asia previously reported, work-related entries into Russia by citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan fell by approximately 15% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Art and Culture

Threading a New Canon: Interview with Batima Zaurbekova

How does an artist born in a remote village in Kazakhstan become one of the country’s most recognized artists? “I realised that if I put in the work, I can achieve everything,” says Batima Zaurbekova, a pioneer of Kazakh tapestry, as she walks through Threads of Heritage at the Abylkhan Kasteyev National Museum of Arts in Almaty. The exhibition runs from September 25 to November 8, 2026. An energetic lady with a strong personality and a playful attitude, Zaurbekova is the subject of a retrospective marking her 80th birthday and consecrating a lifetime of artistic production, at a time when Kazakhstan, event after event, is gaining ever greater international cultural recognition. Video: TCA. Narration: Naima Morelli. It is indeed a momentous time to be in the art world in Kazakhstan. At the forefront of the discourses on de-coloniality in the arts, and among those contributing to a new canon of contemporary art, Kazakh artists like Zaurbekova embody what is truest to their culture and local specificity, letting it flow in the global discourse. [caption id="attachment_58628" align="alignnone" width="936"] Detail of Batima Zaurbekova’s The Bride’s Farewell (2003). Credit: Naima Morelli.[/caption] The passion with which Zaurbekova describes even the smallest technical details reveals her deep love for weaving. That devotion is also a political stance in the face of the Western canon of art history. The reclamation of an art canon which would belong to Central Asia started in the second half of the 20th century, when artists worldwide challenged the relegation of textiles to the category of craft. Starting from the very local arts of felt and weaving, and against the canon of Soviet painting, a generation of artists recovered something that was truly theirs and called it by its name: not simply craft, but art in its own right, with Zaurbekova at the heart of that movement. [caption id="attachment_58629" align="alignnone" width="2560"] Entrance display for Threads of Heritage at the Abylkhan Kasteyev National Museum of Arts in Almaty. Credit: Kirill Fedorov.[/caption] A matriarchal line While today biennales and fair around the world look for those artists whose cultural background is legible in their art, it wasn’t always like that. When Zaurbekova began weaving in the late 1960s, her teachers strongly discouraged her from devoting herself to weaving. Her teachers, many of whom had trained in Leningrad and Moscow, saw her as a painter, at a time when textiles were still considered a “lower” type of art, and far too slow and demanding. “I’d spend fifteen hours every day for days on end working on just one tapestry, and my teachers would tell me: ‘It’s so slow! In the same amount of time you could have painted three paintings already!” she tells me, laughing. They used to scold her with a Kazakh saying for it: “You’re digging a huge well with a small needle.” Zaurbekova was born in 1946 in Furmanovka, in the Moiynkum district of the Jambyl region, and grew up in Merke, where her family moved when she was in fifth...

U.S.-Uzbekistan Relations

Uzbekistan’s U.S. Package: What Supports the $12 Billion Figure?

Uzbekistan announced a package of 54 agreements and prospective initiatives that it valued at about $12 billion during U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Samarkand on October 19. The Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade lists engine supplies from GE Aerospace for new Uzbekistan Airways aircraft as part of the package. The investment ministry makes that value conditional on implementation. The presidency’s account says a comprehensive implementation program will be developed for the agreements and initiatives. October’s $12 billion may include projects still awaiting finance or development, but the values assigned to them must have an identifiable basis in project estimates or specific transactions. The official announcements identify counterparties and sectors, but the evidence examined does not provide the individual values needed to reconstruct the $12 billion total. Earlier Announcements and Additional Value In November 2025, Donald Trump announced that Uzbekistan would undertake roughly $35 billion in purchases and investment in American sectors over the following three years. The stated total did not separate the amounts assigned to purchases and investment. Uzbekistani purchases from American suppliers and investment in American sectors cannot be counted as an equivalent inflow of U.S. capital into Uzbekistan. Purchasing American equipment and receiving American investment give Uzbekistani participants different roles in the financing and implementation of projects. In September 2026, Investment Minister Laziz Kudratov said projects worth $7 billion had already been completed within a $35 billion portfolio. UzDaily described the figure as one-fifth of the value of the previous year’s agreements, without identifying the completed projects or defining completion. A transaction-level account would show what equipment was delivered, which facilities were commissioned, and what contract payments were made, giving the value and completion date of each transaction. October’s $12 billion cannot be added to the earlier figures without reconciling the transactions included in each package and the values assigned to them. The matching $35 billion figures do not establish that Kudratov and Trump referred to the same transaction list. An October agreement could introduce a fresh transaction or add obligations within an existing project, but it could also cover work already reflected in an earlier valuation. A company’s reappearance in successive announcements does not establish which relationship applies. What the Agreements Establish American Resources Corporation and ReElement Technologies announced an October 19 agreement with Uzbekistan Technological Metals Complex and the Fund for Reconstruction and Development, advancing their November 2025 memorandum. ReElement’s release describes a further stage of technical and commercial work under an existing partnership, but it provides no valuation showing how that work contributes to the $12 billion total. The companies report successful processing of Uzbek-sourced tungsten into high-purity oxide. The planned demonstration at ReElement’s U.S. facilities is intended to evaluate commercial viability, processing efficiency, and scalability; preliminary engineering and economic modeling concern possible refining operations in Uzbekistan. In the financial sector, the investment ministry describes Franklin Templeton, Oppenheimer, Citigroup, and BlackRock as helping to attract capital, but does not explain whether or how these arrangements contribute to the $12 billion...

Tobacco

Kazakhstan Vape Ban Faces a Test Under Eurasian Economic Union Rules

Kazakhstan banned vapes two years ago, but anti-tobacco organizations now fear that new rules being developed by the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) could allow them back onto the market. Public health advocates have appealed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, accusing the government's economic officials of attempting to weaken the restrictions. Undermining Prohibition? Since June 2024, Kazakhstan has prohibited the production, import, and sale of electronic cigarettes, vaping liquids, and certain smokeless tobacco products. This includes snus, a form of tobacco placed under the upper lip. Violations can result in criminal prosecution. The EAEU, which comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia, is developing a common technical regulation for nicotine-containing products allowing manufacturers to operate under common standards across several national markets. The Coalition for a Smoke-Free Kazakhstan argues that the regulation, being developed at Armenia's initiative, could create a legal basis for resuming trade in products currently banned in Kazakhstan. However, a version of the proposed draft prepared by Russia's Agriculture Ministry in November 2025 explicitly states that products cannot be placed on the market in EAEU member states where their circulation is prohibited under national law. Compliance with common technical standards would therefore not, by itself, authorize vape sales in Kazakhstan. It remains unclear whether this provision has been retained in the text currently under negotiation. A Boon for the Treasury The coalition also accused Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin of pressuring the Ministry of Health. According to the activists, he has been pushing for approval of the regulation despite the ministry's objections. In July, Zhumangarin met with executives from Philip Morris International, a multinational tobacco company with manufacturing operations in Kazakhstan. According to the government, the deputy prime minister supported common EAEU rules that would take national legislation and public health commitments into account. The company presented plans to establish a laboratory in Kazakhstan to test nicotine-containing products, with the facility also intended to serve markets in other countries. The tobacco industry generates substantial revenue for Kazakhstan's budget. In 2025, excise taxes on tobacco products totaled 330.7 billion tenge (approximately $735 million). During the first three months of 2026, Kazakhstan exported $42.5 million worth of cigarettes. The Hookah Lobby In spring 2026, Kazakhstan also debated relaxing its anti-tobacco legislation by allowing hookah smoking in licensed restaurants and other food-service establishments. Hookah smoking has been prohibited in enclosed public places since 2020. Supporters of legalization argued that the restrictions had driven the hookah business underground. According to their estimates, approximately 22,000 establishments offer hookahs. They projected that licensing would generate more than 16 billion tenge annually (approximately $35.5 million) in government revenue. The anti-tobacco coalition opposed the proposal. Its leader, Jamilya Sadykova, warned that licensing would effectively legalize tobacco use in places where the government is supposed to protect customers and employees from smoke exposure. In August, the World Health Organization supported maintaining the existing ban. Nevertheless, hookahs continue to be offered in cafes and specialized establishments, and customers are periodically fined during police raids....

Nuclear Energy

U.S. Promotes Small Nuclear Reactors in Uzbekistan

The United States is promoting small modular nuclear reactors in Uzbekistan as Tashkent develops its nuclear power sector with Russia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio promoted the technology during his October 19 visit to Samarkand, linking it to rising energy demand. “We’re introducing U.S. small modular reactors and modernizing the Uzbek electric grid and gas distribution network,” Rubio told the U.S.-Uzbekistan Business and Investment Council. He said the cooperation would help the government keep pace with growing energy demand. Rubio did not name a reactor supplier or announce financing or a construction schedule for an American plant. Uzbekistan’s interest predates Rubio’s visit. In November 2025, the country expressed interest in studying designs from Holtec, GE Hitachi, and NuScale, according to the World Nuclear Association. Tashkent has pursued those discussions alongside its current nuclear partnership with Russia. Small modular reactors generally have an electrical capacity of up to 300 megawatts per unit, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Factories can manufacture their components and assemble them on site. Utilities can add smaller units in stages as demand increases. For Uzbekistan, nuclear power forms part of an effort to expand electricity supply as domestic gas production declines. Once a net gas exporter, the country became a net importer in 2023. Gas output fell 16.3% year-on-year in January-August 2026, increasing pressure on supplies. The World Nuclear Association puts natural gas at 76% of Uzbekistan’s electricity output in 2023. Reducing the amount burned in power stations could ease import needs and leave more available for industry, including petrochemicals. Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom is developing Uzbekistan’s first nuclear complex in the Forish district of the Jizzakh region. The design combines two large Russian VVER-1000 reactors with two smaller RITM-200N units, providing about 2.1 gigawatts of capacity. The smaller reactors are each rated at 55 megawatts. Presidents Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Vladimir Putin launched the project by video link in June, accompanied by a concrete pouring ceremony. The development has expanded substantially since the countries agreed in 2024 to build a plant consisting of six small reactors. The published schedule envisages a technical launch of the first small unit in late 2029, with the larger units following in the 2030s. Nuclear generation is therefore several years away. Uzbekistan must also improve the networks that deliver electricity to homes and businesses. Following a nationwide referendum on the issue, Kazakhstan is also investing in nuclear power. Its planned Balkhash plant, near Ulken on Lake Balkhash, will use Russian technology. A nuclear agreement signed in May envisages two VVER-1200 reactors with a combined capacity of about 2.4 gigawatts. Kazakhstan’s Atomic Energy Agency put the project’s cost at approximately $16.5 billion, including security and supporting infrastructure. Kazakhstan’s strategy calls for at least three nuclear power plants by 2050. China National Nuclear Corporation has been selected to lead the second project. The country is the world’s largest uranium producer, but developing power stations also requires foreign reactor technology and expertise. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have begun cooperating on nuclear safety. Officials...