By Arslan Sabyrbekov

December 2nd, the CACI Analyst

On October 12, 2015, nine prisoners convicted on extremism and terrorism charges broke out of prison No. 50 near Bishkek, killing three guards and leaving one heavily wounded, who died later in the hospital. Shortly after the escape, police captured five of the fugitives and returned them to prison. A few days later, one of the four missing escapees was killed after he tried to attack a police officer with a knife. The scene took place in one of Bishkek’s suburbs. It took almost another two weeks for the state security services to capture and disarm the rest of the escapees on October 22.

By Rafis Abazov

November 28th, 2015, The CACI Analyst

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Education recently hinted that the country’s ambitious program for internationalizing its higher education system may stand to be revised in light of the slowdown in Kazakhstan’s economy. The experts are divided: some suggest that Kazakhstan’s government is abandoning its internationalization program and probably will cut spending on education. Others suggest that the Ministry of Education (MoE) is facing temporary difficulties due to the decline in energy exports revenue and will attempt to keep most of the existing internationalization programs and projects intact.

By Huseyn Aliyev, Emil A. Souleimanov

November 23rd, 2015, The CACI Analyst

In early October, Russia's Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu announced that Russian navy warships based in the Caspian Sea had fired a total of 26 missiles at the positions of the terrorist organization calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria. The minister claimed that all the 11 targets, located around 1,500 kilometers from the warships, were destroyed over two days. Russian authorities and pro-regime media have considered the strikes a big success. While information soon resurfaced that some cruise missiles had landed on Iranian soil, the fact that the October strike is definite proof of the failed attempts to turn the landlocked water basin into a demilitarized zone has received less attention.

By Farkhod Tolipov

November 13th, 2015, The CACI Analyst

During the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2015 in New York, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kazakhstan’s, Kyrgyzstan’s, Tajikistan’s, Turkmenistan’s and Uzbekistan’s Ministers of Foreign Affairs to set up the new C5+1 format for dialogue between the U.S. and Central Asian states. As a first manifestation of this dialogue platform, Kerry made a Central Asian tour in early November. The C5+1 meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, took place in the context of global geopolitical turbulence that has raised Central Asia’s profile in U.S. global strategy.

By Dmitry Shlapentokh

November 6, 2015, The CACI Analyst

Moscow has recently undertaken several actions aiming to increase Russia’s influence in the Middle East and Central Asia. On August 23-28, 2015, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which includes several members from Central Asia, undertook military exercises in Russia. Russian authorities stated that the maneuvers aimed to help CSTO members develop means to effectively move airborne forces and other troops to conflict zones, including in Central Asia. The exercises partly served to address a real concern on the part of Russia as well as other CSTO members over the rise of the terrorist organization calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS). However, Russia sees ISIS not only as a threat but also as an opportunity for both increasing Russia’s influence in Central Asia and providing a pretext for its venture in the Middle East.