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Levi Bridges

Some Russians push back against a church building spree in Moscow

Sacred Nation

The increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church has built hundreds of new churches over the past decade. But some people in Moscow are pushing back against their construction, especially in places like city parks.

In Uzbekistan, the race is on to sustain the world’s growing aquaculture industry

The Big Fix

How do you save a vanishing lake? Kazakhstan has a plan.

The Big Fix

Scientists study why some of Central Asia’s glaciers are resilient to climate change

Environment
Workers in western Uzbekistan haul large bundles of cotton to a nearby truck.

‘Justice doesn’t exist here’: Uzbek farmers and cotton workers say abuse, exploitation continues despite reforms

Business, Economics and Jobs
event gathering

In Kyrgyzstan, a fight to keep alive the memory of a century-old rebellion against Russia

Ukraine

​​​​​In 1916, Russian announced a draft to enlist Native peoples in modern-day Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan to support Russia in World War I. The Russians killed thousands of people who resisted, and some 100,000 more people died trying to flee to China. More than a century later the episode is still difficult to talk about because of efforts by Russia to erase it from the history books. 

Cars queuing to cross the border into Kazakhstan at the Mariinsky border crossing, about (250 miles south of Chelyabinsk, Russia, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022.

Anti-war Russians who fled for safety now face deportation

Ukraine

More than a year after thousands of Russians who opposed the war fled abroad for safety, they now face deportation and other challenges in the countries that initially received them, such as Kazakhstan, Estonia and Georgia.

Armenian skyline with buildings and mountains

More Armenians in California are moving back to their parents’ native land

Culture

California is home to the largest Armenian diaspora. Since the end of the recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there’s been a reverse migration of children of Armenian migrants in the US back to Armenia. They’re starting businesses, getting jobs and moving back with their families to set up homes.

Students sit at the 2023 graduation ceremony inside the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. 

Afghan students in Central Asia set their sights on the US

Afghanistan

When the Afghan government fell to the Taliban in 2021, hundreds of  students continued their education in Kyrgyzstan. As some students begin to graduate, many are hoping to relocate to the United States.

For more than a century, water from mineral springs in the Georgian town of Borjomi has been bottled and sold throughout the former Soviet Union. To this day, Borjomi remains a well-known brand from Kyiv to Kazakhstan.

Georgia’s famous Borjomi water company takes a hit during Russia-Ukraine war

Ukraine

Georgia’s beloved Borjomi mineral water can be found anywhere from Kyiv to Kazakhstan. But Russia’s war in Ukraine has hurt the company’s bottom line.