Tag Archives: international relations

French court says Kazakh opposition figure can be extradited

JAN. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Provence, southern France, ruled that Mukhtar Ablyazov, the former chairman of Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, can be extradited to Russia or Ukraine to face various money laundering charges.

This is a clear victory for the Kazakh authorities over the human rights lobby and they will be quietly celebrating in Astana and the Akorda, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s palace.

Ultimately the Kazakh authorities want Ablyazov extradited to Kazakhstan to face charges of funding terrorism and plotting a revolution. Shifting him from a prison in southern France to either Moscow or Kiev is, literally and figuratively, a move in the right direction for Kazakh prosecutors.

It also underlines their determination to hunt down enemies of the state.

After the collapse of BTA Bank in 2009, Ablyazov fled Kazakhstan and set himself up in London in opposition to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

In 2012, Ablyazov lost a civil case against the Kazakh government in London. The British court ordered him to pay millions in damages and sentenced him to 22 months in prison for perjury. Ablyazov fled, again, and was eventually arrested by French police in southern France in July last year.

In Russia and Ukraine, Ablyazov faces charges of money laundering . His supporters, though, say the main threat is being bounced along to Kazakhstan. They have said that because Kazakhstan had no extradition treaty with France it has had to work with prosecutors in Russia and Ukraine to propel their man east.

A final decision on Ablyazov’s extradition destination and date will be taken later this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)

French court could extradite Kazakh oppositioner

JAN. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in France ruled that Mukhtar Ablyazov, a Kazakh opposition leader, could be extradited to either Russia or Ukraine to face money laundering charges. Mr Ablyazov’s lawyers had argued that the authorities in Russia and Ukraine will simply hand him over to Kazakhstan where they said he would face an unfair trial.

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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)

Kazakhstan to refine more crude oil in China

JAN. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will increase the amount of oil it sends to refineries in western China for processing into oil-based products, media reported quoting the Kazakh energy ministry. Kazakhstan has three refineries, not enough to meet the growing demand for oil-based products. Sending oil to Chinese refineries increases Kazakhstan’s reliance on China.

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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)

Kazakhstan sends peacekeepers to the UN

DEC. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will send soldiers on UN missions for the first time, in an attempt to bolster its international credentials. Twenty Kazakh officers will join UN missions in Haiti, Western Sahara, Ivory Coast and Liberia. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev wants to win a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)

Azerbaijan buys out Greek utility

DEC. 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR has completed its purchase of a 66% stake in Greek gas distributor DESFA, media reported quoting Greek officials. According to reports, SOCAR agreed to pay 400m euros for the stake. Azerbaijan is building a major pipeline to send gas to Europe via Turkey, the Balkans and Greece.

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(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)

Iranian police arrests Tajik businessman

JAN. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Iran arrested Babak Zanjani, one of Tajikistan’s most prominent businessmen, for money laundering, media reported. Mr Zanjani, an associate of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, is a native Iranian but had invested millions into Tajikistan, raising concern that he was laundering cash through the country.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)

Uzbekistan signs free trade deal with the CIS

DEC. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — More usually described as unilateral, Uzbekistan has taken a step towards being more collegiate towards its neighbours.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov signed a law on joining a free trade agreement among nine members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Uzbekistan originally signed a protocol on the free trade deal at a session of heads of CIS governments in Minsk, Belarus, on May 31 2013 and had been waiting for Mr Karimov’s signature to ratify it.

By joining the agreement Uzbekistan will drop import and export fees on goods to and from other member states. Of the eight other countries that signed the free trade deal in 2013 Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine have already put it into operation. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are still waiting to ratify it.

President Karimov has been keen to distance himself from the CIS in general and Moscow in particular but signing the agreement does bring Tashkent closer to the Kremlin.

Uzbekistan is expected to benefit from the agreement. What this move doesn’t mean, and this is important, is that relations with the West have weakened in any way. The free trade deal is important mainly for Uzbekistan’s exports and not for its geo-political trajectory.

(News report from Issue No. 166, published on Jan. 8 2014)

Gazprom buys Kyrgyzstan’s gas system

DEC. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s parliament agreed to sell the debt-ridden Kyrgyzgaz to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom for a symbolic $1. The deal increases the Kremlin’s leverage over Kyrgyzstan. Gazprom has pledged to spend about $610m modernising Kyrgyzgaz and has guaranteed gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan for a year.

(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Turkish foreign minister visits Armenia

DEC. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu visited Yerevan, the first high-level trip to Armenia by an official from Turkey for nearly five years. Mr Davutoglu’s trip has sparked hope that relations between the two neighbours will improve. Turkey is the main ally of Azerbaijan, Armenia’s biggest enemy.

(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)

Uzbek delegation visits the US

DEC. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov led a delegation to Washington to meet with US State Department officials for annual talks, media reported. No details of the conversation were made public but the focus would have been on relations between the two countries and NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan next year.

(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)