Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan bans Child 44 movie

APRIL 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan followed Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and banned the new Hollywood movie Child 44 because of the apparent negative way that it portrays the Soviet Union.

Child 44 was based on a book about the hunt for a serial killer in 1950s Soviet Union. It was produced by Ridley Scott, famed for several blockbuster films including Aliens, Blade Runner and Gladiator.

Last week, the Russian culture ministry said: “The distortion of historical facts and original interpretations of events before, during and after the Great Patriotic War is why we decided to ban this movie on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Victory.”

Victory refers to the annual May 9 celebrations of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

In the past few years, Central Asian countries have been at the centre of controversies around celebrations for the end of World War II.

Preferring to favour their own national building efforts above Soviet symbolism, Central Asian leaders have striven to tear down Soviet symbols, statues of the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin being a particularly favoured target.

The movie Child 44, though, appears to have had the opposite impact and former Soviet states have been quick to spring to the defence of the USSR.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)

Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan break ranks on Russia sanctions

APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have reportedly broken ranks with other former Soviet states and declined to sign a memo calling for sanctions on Russia to be dropped.

At a meeting of foreign ministers in Bishkek most members of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) agreed to back the petition which was to be sent to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (April 3).

But Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan — along with Ukraine and Moldova — declined to sign the document, the local language service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

All three of the Central Asian and South Caucasus countries have form.

Azerbaijan’s cause is probably a sovereignty issue. It doesn’t want to set a precedent that would allow the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh to drift further from its control.

Uzbekistan’s reasons are more deep-rooted and linked to its traditional unilateral stance on issues concerning Russia.

And Turkmenistan could be just aiming to irritate Russia.

It appears that Ashgabat is locked in a worsening row with Russia over gas supplies and the devaluation of the rouble. Earlier this year, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymkuhamedov blamed Russia for Central Asia’s economic troubles.

Regardless, the failure to secure the full backing of CSTO members in Bishkek is a — largely overlooked — diplomatic miss for Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Uzbek som drops after Karimov election win

APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek sum dropped by 17% on the black market immediately after incumbent president Islam Karimov won a presidential election at the end of last month, data showed.

In Uzbekistan, the black market is vital to monitor as it most accurately tracks the value of the sum against the US dollar. Bank rates are fixed.

Uzmetronom, an independent news source, said the sum is trading at 4,200-4,500 sums per $1 on the black market, double the official rate. The website didn’t give any reasons why the sum had fallen so sharply after the election. Generally, though, the drop in remittance from Russia, the fall in energy prices and a fall in the value of the rouble have pressured the sum’s value.

Prices for basic goods are also rising, which is putting pressure on minimum wage workers.

Elections in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan this spring were supposed to bring about stability and reinforce trust. Instead, though, they may be bringing more instability.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Uzbek court jails 12 men for radical Islam

APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Uzbekistan sent 12 men to prison for belonging to a jihadist group, Russian news agencies reported. Prosecutors said the men were distributing pamphlets and videos promoting extremism. Central Asian governments are worried about the lure of the IS extremist group.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Uzbekistan approves JV with Man Group

APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government passed a law that will pave the way for a joint venture between Uzavtomprom and Germany’s MAN Group to build truck cabins. The factory should be operational by 2016. Uzbekistan has developed a substantial auto industry although a region-wide economic decline has hit demand.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Uzbekistan wants to double rent on German base

APRIL 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Only a few months after agreeing a 35m euro/year deal to extend the lease on a German military base in south Uzbekistan, the Uzbek government wants to double the rent, the eurasianet.org website reported quoting German media. The German military base is now the only Western base in Central Asia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)

Air Baltic makes deal with Uzbekistan

MARCH 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Air Baltic, based in Riga, and Uzbekistan Airways have announced a planned codeshare on a route to New York, media reported. The deal matches Uzbekistan Airway’s aspirations to increase its various service.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Karimov wins Uzbek presidential election

MARCH 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Without any irony, apparently, the authorities in Uzbekistan declared Islam Krimov the winner of a presidential election on Sunday with 90% of the vote.

This is the fourth consecutive presidential election that the 77-year-old Mr Karimov has won since the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991. It’s also the fourth consecutive election Western observers said was unfair. The other candidates, Western observers said, all supported Mr Karimov.

The reality is that the presidential election was a choreographed affair design to impose top-down stability over the country as it grapples with worsening economic conditions across the region.

It was also designed, at least in the short-term, to put an end to any chat of succession or replacing Mr Karimov. Last year his eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, who was once widely feared, lost her grip on power and is now under house arrest. Her closest associates are in prison, found guilty of various economic crimes.

The biggest question for Uzbekistan and Central Asia is how the Uzbek elite replace Mr Karimov. For years there has been speculation about his health and although he played a high-profile role in the election he disappeared from view just before campaigning began.

The next few years are vital for sorting out a smooth transition of power.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Uzbekistan to build pipeline to China

MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan will start building a fourth gas pipeline to China at the end of this year, Interfax news agency quoted an official from the state energy company Uzbekneftegaz as saying. The pipeline is expected to be 260km long and cost around $800m.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Dutch company starts building cotton plant in Uzbekistan

MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – LT Textile Cooperatief, a Dutch company, has started building a $55m cotton processing plant in the south of the country, media quoted a senior Uzbek official as saying. Human rights campaigners have accused Uzbekistan of using child labour to pick its cotton, making association with the industry problematic.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)