Petr Trotsenko is a journalist in RFE/RL's Kazakh Service.
In an impoverished lakeside village in eastern Kazakhstan, opinions among the 1,500 residents on what the proposed construction of a nuclear power plant would mean for their future are split.
Hayato Matsumoto, a Japanese-Kazakh photographer, recalls life in the Soviet Union and serving as a policeman investigating violent crime, before finding a calmer life in Japan.
Protests by unemployed residents of Mangystau have spotlighted systemic problems in a province that accounts for around a quarter of Kazakhstan’s oil production. RFE/RL spent several days in the village of Zhetybai to understand the demands of an increasingly restive population.
In the steppes of Kazakhstan, there is no Internet, no stable access to electricity, and there are few people. If you spend more than a day here, it seems that "civilization" exists in another dimension, as the world here consists of mountains, the sky, and absolute silence.
In a year of turmoil, Kazakh authorities are taking zero chances with a vote that critics say raises doubts about the president’s reform program.
Many people in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan, are campaigning against a project that involves reducing a lake to build a residential complex. Experts warn the project will deprive the city of a massive green zone.
The remote village of Dolmatovo is located on the banks of the Ishim River in northern Kazakhstan, just 4 kilometers from the Russian border.
The scene of deadly ethnic clashes last month in southern Kazakhstan has left Kazakhs and Dungans blaming each other for provoking the conflict. Many Dungans no longer feel safe in Kazakhstan and see their future elsewhere -- many in Russia.
Three years ago, Uzbekistan went through its first major political upheaval in decades after the death of longtime President Islam Karimov. The transition prompted debate inside and outside Uzbekistan as to whether the country was headed for a political thaw or a continuation of an autocratic regime under different leadership. Pyotr Trotsenko, a correspondent for RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, or Radio Azattyq, traveled through Uzbekistan in November to investigate the shifting landscape.
Water levels are falling on the Ural, the third-longest river in Europe. Despite a very snowy winter, the water level of the river did not rise at all this year. Pollution is also a problem, and a Russian-Kazakh commission has so far achieved little.
A Kazakh bicyclist innocently pedals his way into an election protest, and then detention.
Suddenly, I found myself being dragged by three SOBR officers toward a police vehicle.
The day after the Kazakh presidential election was marked by new detentions in the capital, Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Shymkent, and Aktobe.
American football has a small but loyal following in Central Asia, and the sport is slowly growing in popularity.
