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This paper explores the Organization of Turkic States' (OTS) support in aiding Central Asian republics to address their historical legacies, focusing on the period following Russian influence from the 18th century. Employing a postcolonial theoretical lens, it examines the post-independence phase of these republics, highlighting the OTS' role in promoting regional cooperation, cultural revitalization, and social unity. The paper discusses the challenges faced by these nations in various sectors such as economics and linguistics, assessing the OTS' capacity to support their development, given its resources and relative position amidst other significant regional entities. Additionally, it delves into broader regional developmental strategies and their implications for the OTS' objectives. The paper underscores the importance of strategic autonomy for Central Asia in the context of evolving regional dynamics. It concludes by recognizing the OTS' potential in contributing to the region's progress, presenting a comprehensive view of the intricate regional landscape and the OTS' part in fostering growth and development in Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to explore the practical application of "soft power" in "hybrid" countries. The analysis is based on the example of soft power-strategies developed and implemented by the Russian Federation in post-Soviet Central Asia throughout the last two decades. The overarching research questions of the paper are the following -- what are the most interesting features of Russian soft power in the changing geopolitical conditions of the post-Soviet space? How does it address local youth to secure Russian domination in the region and ensure the sustainability of local political regimes? What is the future of Russian soft power and geopolitical influence in the region? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kalmyks have lived in southwest Russia for about four centuries. Whilst cultural assimilation with neighbouring peoples has been an ongoing process since the Kalmyks first settled in the lower Volga from 1630, the twentieth century, which saw the rise and fall of several political regimes in Russia, was the most dramatic period in the group's history in that it had a deep impact not only on their social structure, religion, and way of life but also on their identity. Subjected to various political ideologies, not to mention punitive mass deportation to Siberia and Central Asia from 1943 to 1956, the Kalmyks had to constantly negotiate their identity not only with the Tsarist/Soviet/Russian state but also among themselves. Whilst today's self-narratives of Kalmyk ethnic identity are inextricably linked to the discourse of post-Soviet cultural revival, in order to explain the fluidity and dynamics of Kalmyk identity this paper takes a comprehensive approach to the history of the Kalmyk people since their first settlement on the lower Volga. Ethnic identity and its development are narrated chronologically, taking into account social structure, religion, historiography, and popular concepts to which the Kalmyks have been subjected, and which they have embraced, in the course of their history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the nature of inter‐ethnic, anti‐colonial violence during the First World War and the Russian Revolution (1914–1921). It adopts a comparative approach by juxtaposing the 1916 uprising in Russian Central Asia – specifically, in the Semirech'e oblast – against the anti‐Mennonite pogroms carried out by the Ukrainian peasantry in 1919. The analysis demonstrates that the imperial state, although a significant factor, exercises a highly ambiguous influence: in one case it becomes an enabler of violence, whereas in another it poses an obstacle to it. Furthermore, the paper questions the conventional wisdom of presenting Russia's long crisis as a two‐part process of state disintegration and subsequent state reconstitution; regional dynamics, especially the power relations between the colonized and the colonizers, need to be taken into account if one intends to construct a more comprehensive history of that period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) intersect and overlap in Central Asia at the heart of Eurasia. Whereas the literature has commonly focused on the economic aspects of these major regional policy initiatives, efforts to create a common Eurasian higher education space through these regionalisms have barely been studied. In response, this paper compares the development of Russian and Chinese led visions for Eurasian higher education regionalism in Central Asia and the extent to which these constructions overlap. The paper also sheds lights on the perspectives of Central Asian states by investigating how these countries are approaching these efforts to construct a Eurasian higher education region. The conceptual framework brings together higher education regionalism with overlapping regionalism and takes a policy-oriented methodological approach. The paper introduces the new term of "points of correspondence" based on language used in both Russian and Chinese policy discourse to explain how constructions of a Eurasian higher education region can overlap without duplicating or flowing into each other. "Points of correspondence" emphasizes neither competition nor collaboration but rather the ongoing pursuit to find ideas and policy tools that best fit one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a technical and economic optimization study of the prospects of the Caspian Energy Ring (CER), connecting power systems of Russia, countries of the Caucasus, Central Asia, and South Asia. The CER, belonging partly to the emerging Asian Supergrid and partly to the existing European Supergrid, will become a bridge connecting these supergrids, laying the foundation for forming a global energy interconnection in the long term. The expansion of carbon-free renewable and nuclear facilities, low-carbon gas-fired power plants, and traditional thermal and hydro energy sources within the CER were considered in this study. The positive economic benefits of the creation of the CER are presented. Preliminary characteristics of the potential CER were also estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Asian nations have pursued divergent policies regarding bilingualism and language in their education systems. Post-independence, some nations have continued to embrace the Russian language and "retained" the language to promote collaboration and economic ties with the Russian Federation. These nations maintain official status of the Russian language, continue to use Russian in schools, and maintain the Cyrillic alphabet for national languages. Other countries have attempted to "reject" the Russian language as a means of state- and nation-building. These countries have deemphasized the importance of Russian language in schools and official usage and even changed to using the Latin alphabet. This paper reviews the history of bilingual education in Soviet Central Asia and finds that nations' decisions to "retain" or "reject" Russian were made largely due to regional geopolitics, demographic realities, and the history of language in Central Asian nations during the Soviet period rather than reflecting students' pedagogical concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the dissolution of Soviet Union, the US and its Western allies have dominated the global affairs through numerous political and economic organizations. In the same token China and Russia have established close ties after the termination of Cold War to attain regional security so that to minimize the US penetration in the Central Asian region. In this article, the area of Central Asia has been taken as a case study to demonstrate the China-Russia partnership through a multilateral organization; specifically the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This article discusses the theoretical underpinnings of the Soft Balancing in the SCO. It further elaborates the Sino-Russian cooperation through SCO in terms of balancing the US preponderance. This paper evaluates historical competition among Great Powers in Central Asian region, and further elaborates on the formation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization1. While this article argues that the main focus of SCO was strengthening regional security issues, fight against terrorism, ethnic separatism and religious extremism. However it also aimed to counter the US influence in the region through multilateral organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has presented extreme challenges to developing countries across the world. The aim of this paper was to provide estimates for current development COVID-19 pandemic in the Post-Soviet states and forecast potential best and worst scenarios for spread of this deadly infection. Methods: The data on COVID-19 cases extracted from official governmental sources until April 18, 2020. A modified SEIR (Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered) modelling was used to plot the pandemic outbreak in 10 Post-Soviet states and forecasting over the period of 10, 30 and 60 days. The optimal measures (best-scenario) and suboptimal measures (worst-scenarios) of potential spread of COVID-19 in these countries were estimated. Results: It was estimated that Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached their peaks, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Uzbekistan are expected to reach their peaks in the early May-2020), with comparatively low cases of COVID-19 in the best-case scenario. In contrast, Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine would likely see the outbreaks with the largest number of COVID-19 cases amongst the studied Post-Soviet States in the worst-scenario during the next 30 and 60 days. Conclusion: Governmental response was shown to be as an important determining factor responsible for the development of COVID-19 epidemic in Post-Soviet states. The current protection rates should be maintained to reduce active cases during upcoming 30 and 60 days. The estimated possible scenarios based on the proposed model can potentially be used by healthcare professionals from each studied Post-Soviet States as well as others to improve plans to contain the current and future epidemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Between 700 thousand and 1.2 million citizens of Tajikistan currently live in the Russian Federation, one of the only countries where the HIV epidemic continues to worsen. Given the previously reported barriers to healthcare access for migrants to the Russian Federation, and the rapidly expanding HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, this present study set out to determine whether these barriers impact late presentation with HIV among Tajikistani migrants upon their return to Tajikistan.Method: This study uses data from the Tajikistan Ministry of Health surveillance system (2006 - 2019). At time of diagnosis, patients are interviewed by staff of AIDS centers, and doctors complete routine intake forms and complete medical exams. Descriptive characteristics of migrants with HIV who had lived in the Russian Federation (n=503) were calculated and compared with those of non-migrants with HIV (n=9519). Missing data were imputed using multiple imputation (predictive means matching, logistic regression imputation, and polytomous regression imputation). Two logistic models were created to model the probability of late presentation for HIV. The first model shows unadjusted associations between predictor variables and late presentation for HIV. The second model shows multivariable associations between significant study variables identified in the univariate model, and late presentation.Results: Compared to non-migrants, migrants with HIV are more likely to be from Gorno-Badakhshan region, are less likely to use illicit drugs, and are more likely to have purchased the services of sex workers. The unadjusted logistic model found that for every year spent in the Russian Federation, the risk of late presentation for a Tajikistani migrant with HIV increases by 4.0% (95% CI: 0.3-7.7). The multivariate model showed that when age, sex, and region of origin are held constant, the risk of late presentation for a Tajikistani migrant with HIV increases by 4.0% (95% CI: 0.1-7.8) for each year spent in the Russian Federation.Conclusion: The results of this paper suggest that if the Russian Federation were to loosen its restrictions on HIV care for foreign nationals, it might improve the treatment outcomes of migrant laborers. As this analysis is only correlational in nature, further research is needed to explicate the causal pathways of the associations found in the present analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes phenomenon of "migrant schools" and "migrant classes" in schools that began to emerge in the 2010s in Siberian cities of Tomsk and Irkutsk. The study is based on 120 interviews with migrants and 36 express-interviews with parents of children from both local families and those that have migrated from Central Asia, as well as case studies of four schools in these two cities identified as "migrant" by local residents. Despite the ethnic diversity of these Siberian cities where most families themselves descend from migrants from other regions, the local population singles out new migrants from the countries of Central Asia as "others" in the urban space. While school administrations, teachers, and parents reproduce the narratives of tolerance and ethnic diversity, school segregation persists in these cities, manifested, among other things, in the emergence of "migrant" schools and "migrant classes" in schools. This study presents this segregation as an outcome of strategies pursued by school administrators and parents of both local and migrant children. In particular, creation of "migrant" classes in some schools is the school administrators' response to the lack of adaptation programs for migrant children. I conclude that rather than assisting the socialization of migrant children, such schools reproduce their isolation from other pupils, limiting their ability to succeed in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the origins of Iranian studies in the principal centers of Oriental studies in Russia, located in Kazan, St. Petersburg and Moscow from the nineteenth to the beginning of the twentieth century. It concerns the international political situation and major social changes which created a demand in the Russian intellectual market for both academic and practical experts on the entire Muslim world. The paper also describes how, thanks to the efforts of German scholars who were invited to these centers, the different fields of modern Iranian studies, including the academic traditions, achievements and key publications were initially formed and then were developed by their Russian colleagues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper sheds light on informal economies, focusing on transnational entrepreneurs between Central Asia and Russia. Both male and female entrepreneurs from Central Asia live mobile economic lives, traveling between Central Asia and Russia and forming a kind of class. With Islam playing a prominent role in the regulation of informal economies, Islamic belonging has become a stronger marker of identity than ethnicity among Central Asian migrants in Russia, and mosque communities have grown in influence. Mosques have become places to meet and socialize, where contacts are established and maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to compare the conditions of migrants from Central Asia into Russia with that of migrants from the Maghreb into France. Despite many similarities in conditions (related to the experience of social exclusion), there are deep differences. The precarious legal status of the majority of Central Asian newcomers in Russia has prevented them from embarking on an effective struggle for public recognition; this is in sharp contrast with North African newcomers in France who have been engaged in such struggle since the 1980s. In addition, Islam plays different roles in the migrants' perceptions by host societies and in identification of the migrants themselves. Whereas Islam has become a marker of overarching collective identity among the Maghreb migrants' descendants, this is not the case with Central Asians in Russia, for whom Islam remains part of their individual identity, rather than the basis of social consolidation and political mobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]