Our People > K Krombie

K Krombie

Senior Editor and Journalist

K. Krombie is a freelance journalist, lecturer, editor, and the author of Death in New York (published in 2021), which explores death in the Big Apple from experiments in embalming and capital punishment to the vagaries of the mortuary business. Krombie also owns a tour company called Purefinder New York, which focuses on NYC behind the scenes. She lectures on subjects ranging from Oppenheimer and the Cold War to the World Nomad Games.

Articles

SCO Summit

SCO Summit Delivers Institutional Reform but Leaves Development Bank Unsettled

Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization adopted amendments to the bloc's Charter and approved regulations for two security bodies in Bishkek on September 1, but stopped short of launching the proposed SCO Development Bank. The official outcome list contains 28 documents. They include the Bishkek Declaration marking the SCO's 25th anniversary, a statement on assistance to countries affected by emergencies, and measures covering transport, digital policy, energy, and climate cooperation. For Kyrgyzstan, which used its fourth chairmanship to press for new financial and emergency response mechanisms, the results were mixed. The emergency statement gave political backing to a Kyrgyz initiative, while the bank remained under negotiation. Kazakhstan then made a competing offer to host its headquarters. An institutional package The member states signed a protocol amending the 2002 SCO Charter and approved regulations for the Universal Center for Countering Security Challenges and Threats. They also approved rules for the executive committee of the SCO Anti-Drug Center. The package included programs against drug addiction and synthetic narcotics through 2030, as well as amendments to the 2010 agreement on cooperation against crime. The decisions continue an institutional reorganization begun at the 2025 Tianjin summit. That meeting approved agreements establishing the Anti-Drug Center in Dushanbe and a Universal Center based on the SCO's existing regional counterterrorism structure in Tashkent. President Sadyr Japarov said the organization should remain free of bloc politics and confrontation. He called for the rapid launch of the Universal Center and said Bishkek had prepared the conditions for an SCO center against transnational organized crime. Opening the meeting, he said the anniversary should become the start of a new phase for the organization. Bank progress, but no launch The Bishkek Declaration records progress toward creating an SCO Development Bank among interested member states during Kyrgyzstan's chairmanship, though the wording is qualified. The summit did not produce a founding agreement, capital commitment, or a launch date. Japarov urged members to reach a practical decision on the bank and invited them to use Kyrgyzstan's Tamchy Special Financial Investment Territory for joint projects. Kyrgyzstan had already proposed Bishkek as the bank's headquarters. However, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev used his summit address to make a rival offer. Kazakhstan supports directing the proposed bank's resources toward infrastructure, technology, and industry, he said. "If there is consensus among the member states, Kazakhstan could host this institution, its headquarters," Tokayev said in the official transcript. The two bids underline how much remains unresolved. Members reached political consensus to establish the bank in Tianjin last year, but its membership, governance, capital, and location are still being negotiated. Kyrgyz emergency initiative advances The heads of state adopted a separate statement on assistance to countries affected by emergencies. Kyrgyzstan had spent its chairmanship promoting an SCO assistance mechanism and, in May, sought support for a special account to finance emergency aid after major natural disasters. The statement's adoption is a clear political success for Bishkek. Its published title does not establish whether members accepted the proposed special account or how...

2 months ago

World Nomad Games

World Nomad Games Return Home as Kyrgyzstan Welcomes World Leaders

Few periods since independence have put Kyrgyzstan so squarely in the international spotlight. On August 31, the country marked 35 years of independence, opened the sixth World Nomad Games, and prepared to host a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit that has brought more than a dozen foreign leaders to Bishkek. The Games themselves were back where they began. Kyrgyzstan launched the World Nomad Games in 2014 and staged the first three editions at Cholpon Ata before the event moved to Turkey in 2022 and Kazakhstan in 2024. This year's Games run through September 6, with The Times of Central Asia reporting from Bishkek and Issyk-Kul throughout the week in our special coverage. The opening took place at the new Bishkek Arena, rising out of the dust on the southwestern edge of the capital near the foothills of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range. Around 30,000 spectators attended the ceremony. The stadium will eventually hold more than 51,000, but it is not formally due to open until October 5. The Games opened while work on the arena was still underway, with parts of the building still looking unfinished. In the weeks before the ceremony, horses had circled the arena floor during rehearsals while drilling continued around them. By the time the spectators arrived, the construction site had become the biggest show in town. Before the politics and pageantry, there was pop. Kyrgyzstan put many of its best-known performers on stage in a concert that at times had a distinctly Eurovision feel. Energetic hosts introduced a succession of singers and rappers while tightly choreographed dancers moved between traditional dress and contemporary styling. The lineup included Bayastan, Malika Dina, Erlan Andashev, Begish, and others, but veteran singer Baktiyar Toktorov received the loudest reaction. When he launched into "Yza," known almost universally by its "Bui-Bui" refrain, spectators rose from their seats and sang with him. Even some of the security guards joined in. The refrain does not demand many words, but almost everybody in the arena seemed to know them. The new stadium also showed some early teething problems, with concession stands running out of bottled water and food as crowds built. After the concert, the momentum disappeared. The audience waited for around 90 minutes while footage of arriving dignitaries played on the giant screens. The reason for the pause soon became clear, as one motorcade after another delivered guests for the formal ceremony. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko were among those in the stands. The presidents of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan also attended, along with leaders and senior officials from elsewhere in Asia, the Caucasus, and Africa. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was among the international guests. One expected heavyweight was missing. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in Bishkek for a state visit and the SCO summit, had been due to attend the opening. Presidential spokesman Askat Alagozov said Xi had stayed away because of the deadly flooding and landslides in...

2 months ago

Code of Conduct

Tokayev Calls for Firm Handshakes in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has called for a return to more restrained forms of greeting, saying men should exchange firm handshakes and refrain from embracing or kissing one another. Tokayev made the remarks during a press briefing after casting his ballot in Sunday’s election for the new unicameral Kurultai. Asked whether traditional ethics were becoming accepted public norms, he said he had initiated what he described as a new code of conduct. Arguing that some current forms of greeting do not belong to Kazakhstan’s customs, Tokayev objected to men embracing or kissing when they meet and also criticized kisses between men and women. He singled out military personnel and generals, saying a handshake should be firm and likening a limp one to a “warm patty or a twig.” Placing the right hand over the heart would also be appropriate when someone was especially pleased to see another person, he added. Although Tokayev described the proposal as a code of conduct, no draft accompanied his remarks, and he gave no details about what form it might take or how it would be introduced. His comments came as Kazakhstan held its first election for the Kurultai, which replaced the country’s bicameral parliament under a new Constitution that took effect on July 1. Tokayev voted at polling station No. 520 in Astana’s Palace of Independence before speaking to reporters.

2 months ago

Visa-Free Transit

China Opens 10-Day Visa-Free Transit to Kyrgyzstan

Citizens of Kyrgyzstan can now turn a stopover in China into a stay of up to 10 days without arranging a visa in advance, provided they continue to a third country or region. The rules took effect on August 20. China’s National Immigration Administration added Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam to its 240-hour visa-free transit program. Travelers must have regular passports and confirmed onward tickets specifying their travel date and itinerary. The agency’s updated guidance says they may enter through any of 65 designated ports across 24 provincial-level regions, including Beijing and Shanghai, but must remain within the areas covered by the program. Unlike a conventional visa waiver, the policy applies only to passengers continuing to a third country or region, so a traveler flying from Bishkek to China and directly back to Kyrgyzstan would not qualify. Those who meet the transit requirement may undertake permitted short-term activities during their stay, including tourism and business. Kyrgyzstan was also added to a separate Hainan program, allowing eligible visitors to enter through the island province’s open ports and remain within Hainan for up to 30 days. Unlike the transit policy, the published Hainan rules do not require an onward journey to a third country. The waiver covers short visits such as tourism or commerce, while employment and study still require visas; journalistic work requires prior approval and a visa. With the additions of Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam, 57 nationalities are now covered by the 240-hour transit scheme and 61 by the Hainan waiver. Shortly before the visa rules changed, Air China began scheduled Beijing-Bishkek flights in July, and Aero Nomad followed with a weekly Bishkek-Urumqi route on August 3.

2 months ago

Environmental Safeguards

Pasture Gives Way to Solar Power in Uzbekistan as Audit Remains Unpublished

Each spring, nine households grazed livestock on a stretch of desert pasture in Uzbekistan’s Bukhara Region. The land is now the site of the Nur Bukhara solar and battery plant, but an audit intended to show whether promised livelihood protections worked remains unpublished. Seven of the households came from the nearby settlement of Kirilishon and used the state-owned pasture without permits or formal agreements. A herder and his partner, identified publicly only as H1 and H2, grazed animals there through a short-term agreement with Alat Qorakolchilik LLC, a local livestock company holding a sublease on the land. The nine households included 43 people. The plant began operating in September 2025 and was inaugurated that December. The Uzbek government awarded the project to Masdar, an Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy developer that built the facility and now operates it. Nur Bukhara combines a 250-megawatt solar plant with a 63-megawatt battery system capable of storing 126 megawatt-hours of electricity. Masdar says it can supply more than 55,000 homes, while the World Bank described it as Central Asia’s first utility-scale renewable energy project to combine solar generation with battery storage. During a consultation on May 7, 2023, Kirilishon residents asked for the solar plant to be moved. If construction went ahead, they wanted replacement grazing land near the village and priority consideration for project jobs. H1 and H2 had a documented right to use the pasture, while the seven Kirilishon households did not. However, the safeguards required by Nur Bukhara’s international lenders covered both formal and informal users whose livelihoods would be disrupted by the project. Masdar commissioned a livelihood restoration plan setting out the assistance the households were to receive before construction cut off access to the site. It identified about 260 hectares of replacement pasture, equivalent to one square mile, for H1 and H2. Alat Qorakolchilik also identified approximately 1,000 hectares, or 3.9 square miles, of additional land available to herders. The seven informal households were to be allowed to use replacement pasture without obtaining formal agreements. The larger tract was not described as land reserved exclusively for those households. The published map did not record which final area each household would receive. The livelihood measures also included priority access to project employment and additional support for households considered vulnerable. In an official statement to The Times of Central Asia, a Masdar spokesperson said replacement grazing arrangements were provided before access to the project site was restricted, “maintaining equivalent grazing conditions,” and that “several members of affected households obtained project-related employment opportunities.” The statement cited monitoring by international lenders and an independent third-party review, with the completion audit finalized in September 2025. It reported no related complaints from affected households through the project’s grievance mechanism. The completion audit was not included with Masdar’s response. As of August 20, 2026, it was also absent from Masdar’s Nur Bukhara page and the International Finance Corporation’s project disclosure. Simonyan Consulting, which says it was engaged by the project company to conduct the audit, lists the assignment as “2025–ongoing.” Without the audit,...

2 months ago

Cremation Ban

Kyrgyzstan Reverses Cremation Policy as Japarov Signs Ban

In less than two and a half years, Kyrgyzstan has gone from recognizing cremation in law to banning it. On August 3, President Sadyr Japarov signed amendments prohibiting the cremation of human remains and removing the legal framework for the burial or storage of ashes. Law No. 139 will take effect on August 14. Under the new law, “cremation” no longer refers to the burning of a deceased person’s body. It is redefined as the sanitary burning of human organs or tissue resulting from medical activity, while a “crematorium” will mean the technical facility used for that purpose. Such facilities are expressly prohibited from being used for deceased people or aborted and stillborn fetuses. Unidentified and unclaimed bodies must instead be buried. Religious opposition was already part of the debate years before the 2024 law, with a 2018 AKIpress report quoting Baktiyar Toktogazy uulu, a fatwa specialist with the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan, as saying that cremating a Muslim body contradicts Islamic canons. The report also quoted Askerbek Aliyev, then head of Bishkek’s funeral service, who said earlier attempts to introduce cremation legislation had faced opposition from religious groups. Despite those objections, implementation was still moving ahead in October 2025, when Kudaibergen Bazarbaev, then-director of the State Agency for Civil Service and Local Self-Government, said cremation would be voluntary and available to people of other faiths or those who chose it. He added that existing burial traditions would remain unchanged and acknowledged that the country had no crematoria or funding for them. An official draft published that month proposed approving rules for operating crematoria. In December 2025, a Cabinet resolution on funeral-service pricing still included cremation followed by the issuing of an urn among regulated services. By March 2026, however, the State Agency was proposing to suspend the 2024 law’s provision allowing crematoria until January 1, 2040, citing a lack of infrastructure and financing. The agency also said environmental requirements and socio-cultural questions remained unresolved. Religious concerns entered the parliamentary debate directly in June, when MP Nurzhamal Torobekova asked whether citizens’ views and religious customs had been taken into account. A State Agency official replied that cremation had been conceived as a service rather than a requirement, citing foreigners whose customs include the practice. The committee subsequently approved the proposed delay in its second reading. The version Japarov signed went substantially further, removing human cremation and provisions governing ashes from the law rather than postponing their implementation. The stated purpose is to distinguish funeral activity from the sanitary handling of biological material, but neither that explanation nor the law says why the proposed moratorium ultimately became a ban. The change also puts Kyrgyzstan on a different course from neighboring Kazakhstan. Almaty has opened the country’s first crematorium, where cremation is offered as a voluntary alternative to burial.

3 months ago

Trans-Caspian Cable

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan Begin Laying Trans-Caspian Fiber-Optic Cable

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have begun laying a fiber-optic cable across the Caspian Sea, marking the start of offshore construction on a long-planned digital connection between Central Asia and the South Caucasus. A specialized cable-laying vessel has departed the Port of Baku and begun laying the line toward Aktau, the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development of Kazakhstan announced. Weather permitting, the underwater installation is expected to take 15 to 20 days. Testing and commissioning are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026. The 380-kilometer cable will connect Sumgait in Azerbaijan with Aktau in western Kazakhstan. It will be capable of transmitting up to 400 terabits of data per second, according to AzerTelecom. The full system, including testing and commissioning, is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026. The project is being implemented by CaspiLink B.V., a joint venture established by Kazakhstan’s Kazakhtelecom and Azerbaijan’s AzerTelecom. It forms part of the Digital Silk Way initiative, a planned telecommunications corridor linking Asia and Europe. Preparatory work included surveys of the Caspian seabed and the selection of a route avoiding anchorage areas and military exercise zones. The armored cable was manufactured and tested in China before being delivered to the Kazakh port of Kuryk and transported to Baku for installation. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, the project had entered active implementation after several years of delays and changes among the participating companies. The cable was first proposed in 2019, although earlier completion targets were not met. Once operational, the link will provide a direct subsea data route between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. It will also expand Kazakhstan’s capacity to carry internet traffic between Asian and European networks.

3 months ago

Water Management

Tajikistan’s Electricity Losses Add Pressure to Water and Climate Agenda

Tajikistan’s aging power grid has become part of the country’s water and climate policy. The issue returned to the agenda of European Union-Tajikistan cooperation on July 3, when the two sides held a development cooperation meeting in Dushanbe. Energy and water were included in the Global Gateway agenda, while other talks addressed transport and energy infrastructure, the digital economy, water-resource management, and strategic raw materials. Tajikistan gets nearly 98% of its electricity from hydropower. That gives the country a low-carbon power mix, while tying electricity supply to river flows, snowmelt, reservoirs, and glacier change. Losses in the power system add pressure to that link. Each kilowatt-hour lost in transmission or distribution must still be generated. In Tajikistan, that usually means more water passing through hydropower plants or imported electricity when reservoir levels are low. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has focused on concessional funding for loss-reduction projects. After a May meeting between Energy Minister Daler Juma and Holger Wiefel, the EBRD’s head in Tajikistan, the energy ministry put the aim plainly: “The sides discussed attracting concessional financing for projects aimed at reducing electricity losses and improving the efficiency of the country’s energy system.” Officials also discussed private investment. Hydropower plants in the Zarafshan basin and solar plants were discussed as well. No new financing has been announced from those discussions. The immediate context is an existing EBRD- and EU-backed program for the distribution network. The Times of Central Asia previously reported in April that Tajikistan would receive nearly €49.6 million from the EBRD to reduce electricity losses. The package combines a €28 million loan with grants and technical assistance for work in nine branches of the distribution network in Sughd and Khatlon. First Deputy Finance Minister Yusuf Majidi said the project would reduce energy losses, replace worn-out infrastructure, install modern meters, and improve billing and revenue collection. The EBRD project file gives the total project cost as €43 million. It includes up to €28 million in EBRD financing and a €15 million EU co-investment grant through the Asia Pacific Investment Facility. The project targets automatic billing and metering systems in nine networks of the Bokhtar, Kulob, and Guliston branches of Shabakahoi Taqsimoti Barq. The bank says the project is aimed at reducing high inefficiency and technical losses in Tajikistan’s power distribution network. Distribution losses fell from 19.2% in 2024 to 15.6% in 2025. Even after that fall, more than 3.1 billion kWh were lost in 2025. Officials linked the reduction to smart meters and digital metering. President Emomali Rahmon put the issue in direct terms in a late 2023 parliamentary address. “Our electricity losses are about 4 billion kWh,” he said, adding: “If we prevent this, then there will be enough electricity for everyone.” That comment predates the 2025 improvement, but it still explains why loss reduction has become part of the environmental case for energy-sector financing. Cutting losses can free up electricity without new generation and reduce pressure on winter imports and hydropower reservoirs. Reuters reported...

4 months ago

Surrogacy Recruitment

Central Asian Women Recruited Into Georgia’s Surrogacy Market via Social Media

Women from Central Asia are being recruited into Georgia’s surrogacy market through social media, adding a new labor channel to an industry already under pressure from foreign demand and inadequate supervision. A University of Oxford study published in Mobilities identifies Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in that recruitment chain. The author, Dr. Polina Vlasenko of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), carried out fieldwork in Kazakhstan and Georgia between 2023 and 2024, drawing on more than 100 interviews across the surrogacy and egg donation market. Georgia has allowed surrogacy since 1997. Under Article 143 of the Law of Georgia on Health Care, in vitro fertilization (IVF) may involve a surrogate mother if a woman does not have a uterus and the couple gives written consent. If a child is born, the couple is recognized as the parents. The donor or surrogate mother has no right to be recognized as a parent. That provision gives intended parents direct legal certainty in Georgia, unlike jurisdictions where legal parenthood may require a separate post-birth court process. For women recruited from Central Asia, the difference is in the hidden parts of the process. Opaque recruitment methods can lead into surveillance-style accommodation, while agents often mediate access to the clinic and to payments that may be delayed or disputed. According to a 2020 statement by Georgia’s Ministry of Justice, 98% of people using surrogacy services in Georgia were foreign-citizen couples, while 100% of surrogate mothers were Georgian-citizen women. Before the war, Chinese nationals accounted for 14% of people pursuing surrogacy in Georgia, and Chinese social media later carried accounts of newborns on flights from Tbilisi to Urumqi. Until Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine was considered Europe’s biggest surrogacy hub. By contrast, in December of that year, a Russian law barred foreign clients and stateless people from using the country’s surrogacy system, limiting access to Russian citizens. By 2022, Georgia was already gaining momentum as a reproductive tourism destination, but the war in Ukraine accelerated that rise. As demand grew, recruitment networks began reaching women in Central Asia through social media and private messaging channels. For women recruited from Central Asia, the complexity lies in the online posts and private contacts that turn economic need into pregnancy abroad. Russian-language advertising often uses “surmama,” a shorthand for surrogate mother that now sits inside the market’s online vocabulary. Public posts tied to Georgia programs refer to Tbilisi and Bishkek. Some use Kyrgyz-language wording and hashtags for Kyrgyzstan. The communication network is plentiful in posts yet sparse in detail, as a stack of cash appears in one Instagram post while other accounts use the polished visual language common to fertility advertising online, where smiling young women and clean graphics make paid pregnancy look simple. One Instagram account advertising surrogacy services in Georgia directs users to a WhatsApp number linked to a Kazakhstan-based contact. The account does not establish whether that person recruits women directly or represents a clinic. The WhatsApp profile image offers...

4 months ago

EU Air Safety List

Kyrgyz Airlines See EU Flight Ban Lifted After Two Decades

The European Commission has removed all air carriers certified in Kyrgyzstan from the EU Air Safety List, ending restrictions first imposed in 2006. The decision opens a route back into European Union (EU) airspace for airlines certified in Kyrgyzstan. Regular flights cannot start on the delisting alone. Each airline will still need aircraft suited to European routes and approval to operate under EU rules. The change came through the EU’s 48th update to the Air Safety List. After the update, 154 airlines remain banned from EU skies. The list also identifies 16 countries where the EU says national aviation authorities lack adequate safety oversight. Airlines certified in Kyrgyzstan were added to the list in October 2006 under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1543/2006. That decision followed a European expert mission to Kyrgyzstan from September 10 to 15, 2006. The EU found that the country’s civil aviation authority lacked enough capacity to apply and enforce safety standards under the Chicago Convention. It also found that most of the carriers inspected held Kyrgyzstan-issued air operator certificates but did not have their principal place of business in the country. The 2006 decision placed all air carriers certified by Kyrgyzstan’s aviation authorities under a blanket ban. Last September, The Times of Central Asia reported that 16 carriers from Kyrgyzstan were still on the list, out of 169 banned airlines worldwide. Kyrgyzstan moved through the final stage of the EU review process over the past year. Last October, the State Civil Aviation Agency under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic held a technical meeting with the Commission. In February, the agency submitted evidence on the revised Kyrgyz Air Code, along with new rules for airline certification and recertification. An EU assessment team visited Kyrgyzstan from March 23 to 27. It examined how the new legal framework worked in practice and reviewed the recertification of airlines. The team also checked the SCAA’s oversight of operators and visited AeroStan Air Company LLC and Avia Traffic Company. The Commission Implementing Regulation credited the agency with significant progress in applying the revised Air Code and related aviation legislation. The new legal framework gave it an acceptable basis for certification and oversight. The EU still identified weaknesses. Recurrent training and document control were not yet consistent enough, while oversight procedures needed clearer standardization. Some aircraft safety checks still require attention, including non-destructive testing at approved maintenance organizations. Kyrgyzstan reduced the number of active operators before the EU decision. Between December 2025 and February 2026, all certified air carriers went through a full reassessment. Active air operator certificates fell from 21 to eight. The SCAA said only carriers able to meet the new safety and regulatory requirements kept their certificates. The decision followed the EU Air Safety Committee meeting in Brussels from May 19 to 21. By then, Kyrgyzstan had closed 19 of 23 observations from the March assessment and seven of 12 recommendations. The remaining items were described as being at an advanced stage. The removal has renewed attention...

5 months ago

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