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The Minsk city court has sentenced prominent Belarusian stand-up comedian Slava Komissarenko to six years in a general-regime prison in absentia, following several counts and partial consolidation of the punishments. He was convicted on charges of defamation and insulting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Belta.by reported.

Komissarenko was charged with three offenses: defamation of the president of Belarus, insulting the president and incitement to ethnic, racial, religious or other forms of social hatred.

In 2021, local authorities banned Komissarenko from performing in Belarus, prompting him to move to Russia. However, the ongoing prosecution forced him to leave Russia a year later.

On the night of Dec. 30 to Dec. 31, a unique astronomical event known as a “black moon” will be visible over Kazakhstan. During this phenomenon, the celestial body will be entirely casted by Earth’s shadow, according to scientists from Novosibirsk State University.

Alfiya Nesterenko, head of the astrophysical automated training complex in the physics department of Novosibirsk University, explained that the moon typically transitions through four phases within a month: new moon, first quarter, full moon and third quarter.

“December this year is different from last year in that the moon will, roughly, enter a...

According to data from the National Bank, the aggregated assets of the banking sector have risen by 20.4%, reaching $113 billion over the past 12 months.

Halyk Bank has remained the leader of the sector in terms of assets, with $33.1 billion (a 21.7% increase year-on-year), followed by Kaspi Bank ($14.8 billion, +24.7% YoY) and Bank CenterCredit ($12.5 billion, +33.4% YoY).

Overall, the sector reported a 15% increase (+$14.8 billion) in assets compared to the beginning of the year, with Halyk Bank (+$4.6 billion), BCC (+$2.5 billion) and Kaspi Bank (+$2 billion) leading the growth.

The only bank in Kazakhstan...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law establishing a mechanism to remove the Islamist group Taliban — previously designated as a terrorist organization by the Russian government — from the list of prohibited organizations. According to the Interfax news agency, the document has been published on Pravo.gov.ru, the official state legal database in Russia.

The legislative act implies that the court is allowed to terminate the prohibition based on the resolution by the general prosecutor as long as the organization has ceased all activities that might be related to propaganda and support of terrorism.  

Interfax also reported that...

According to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport, flight recorders from the Embraer 190 aircraft that crashed near Aktau on Dec. 25 will be sent to Brazil for analysis.

«The decision is to send the flight recorders to the Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) in Brazil, a country where Embraer aircraft are manufactured,» the agency said in a statement.

Additionally, the ministry emphasized that the country conducting the flight recorder analysis has been determined in accordance with the Convention on International Civil Aviation (also known as the Chicago Convention).

«Under the...

The Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) has declined an application submitted by the Solva microfinance organization (MFO) to reorganize itself into a bank. Solva has been pursuing this status for several years.

According to the regulator, the company’s final beneficiaries, including Alexander Dunaev and Boris Batin, were denied the status of large stakeholders in the proposed bank.

Solva has been working on its transformation into a bank for the past few years. Madina Abylkassymova, chair of the ARDFM, stated that the regulator refused to accept the documents submitted by the MFO due to noncompliance...

Kazakhstan may face challenges replacing the KazSat-3 communications satellite by 2029, Senator Galiaskar Sarybaev warned. The satellite temporarily lost contact with ground stations a year ago due to battery pack failures. Sarybaev proposed increasing Kazakhstan’s stake in the Baiterek joint space project with Russia, responsible for launching the replacement satellite KazSat-3R.

«One of the key challenges is the delay in the Baiterek project due to the launch of environmentally friendly Soyuz-5 rockets,» Sarybaev stated during a Senate plenary session. «While the project has resumed and funds have been allocated from the state budget, the delivery deadline...

Freedom Holding Corp. has increased the capital of its subsidiary Freedom Bank by 20 billion tenge (approximately $38.66 million), according to a notification to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE). The financial organization plans to allocate the funds for further development of its digital products and the Freedom ecosystem.

To raise necessary funds, Freedom Bank issued 3.4 million shares each priced at $11.41, which were acquired by the sole stakeholder of the organization. Thus, by expanding its own capital to roughly $375.07 million, Freedom Bank has been propelled from 11th to 9th place among 21 financial organizations based on its own...

Almaty will reintroduce the public bike share (PBS) system in 2025. According to Vecher.kz, the program will feature 2,000 electric bicycles available for rent in downtown Almaty.

The city administration plans to revive the PBS project, which was initially shut down in 2023, with the state municipal enterprise Almaty Parking as a contractor.

«After carefully examining the unique characteristics of our city, we’ve taken into account past mistakes; the system hadn’t been updated since 2016. Time marches on — while bikes used to be solely mechanical, they are now equipped with electric motors,» said Vladimir Ni...

The Almaty region may lack sufficient local funding to move forward with the construction of Alatau, a planned new city near Almaty, according to Senator Zhanbolat Zhorgenbayev.

Zhorgenbayev revealed that by the end of 2023, the Almaty region’s debt had reached approximately $32 million. As a result, several regional projects had to be delayed until 2024. Under these financial constraints, the construction of Alatau appears increasingly uncertain.

To address the shortfall, the senator proposed allocating additional funds from the national budget to support the Alatau development plan. Key priorities include building roads and infrastructure, constructing hospitals and schools and enhancing...

According to Data Hub, a Kazakhstani Telegram channel focused on finances, over the first 11 months of the year, major international internet companies paid $67.66 million in taxes in Kazakhstan — a 2.6-fold increase compared to the initially planned figure of approximately $25.9 million.

The so-called «Google tax» — a 12% value-added tax (VAT) on the turnover paid by foreign corporations in this sector — was introduced in 2022. All such entities offering their services in Kazakhstan are subject to this tax. Starting from 2022, the international corporation contributed approximately $135.33 million to the state budget.  

The list of...

The Stadler Kazakhstan plant is set to begin producing passenger railcars by the beginning of the second quarter of 2025, according to the country’s Ministry of Industry.

Stadler Kazakhstan, a subsidiary of Swiss railcar manufacturer Stadler Rail, is located in Astana’s industrial park on a site spanning more than 31,000 square meters. The facility will have the capacity to produce 100 passenger railcars annually. These railcars, designed for a lifespan of 40 years, will operate at speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour. The plant is projected to create 300 jobs.

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), the national railway company...

Kaspi.kz has reported its market cap at $20 billion, making it the most valuable public company listed on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), according to the Qazaq Association of Minority Shareholders (QAMS).

The rating further highlights:

Notably, Air Astana ranked as the least valuable public company on the stock market index, with its stock valued at $550 million, according to KASE.

The combined value of 10 KASE-listed large-cap companies, including Bank CenterCredit, pipeline operator KazTransOil and the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC), reached...

Kyrgyzstan plans to impose a $230 fine on women who wear the niqab, a face veil worn by some Muslim women, in public places and government buildings.

Kyrgyzstan’s parliament is currently debating a draft law on freedom of religion and religious associations, as reported by the 24.kg news agency. Among the proposed amendments is a fine of approximately $230 for wearing the niqab in public spaces.

Lawmakers argue that religious clothing hinders the ability to properly identify individuals in government agencies and public places. However, MP Dastan Bekeshev called the fine unaffordable for many Kyrgyz women.

An Azerbaijan Airlines aircraft that crashed in Aktau experienced severe GPS signal jamming, leading to the transmission of incorrect data, according to the Flightradar24 flight tracking service. Notably, the Baltic states previously accused Russia of attempting to jam their GPS signals, causing interference in aviation navigation. 

The Flightradar24 service, which provides real-time flight data, shared additional details about the Aktau crash.

«Flight J28243 that crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan is an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer ERJ-190 with registration 4K-AZ65. J28243 took off from Baku at 03:55 UTC time and was flying to Grozny. The aircraft was...

Representatives of the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer are on their way to Kazakhstan. They will investigate the accident alongside Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) representatives.

A delegation of the Azerbaijani State Civil Aviation Agency and AZAL representatives have already arrived in Kazakhstan. The work at the site is carried out in close cooperation with the Azerbaijani aviation authorities.

“The Ministry of Transport has established a commission to investigate the accident. Representatives of the manufacturer Embraer and Brazil’s Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) are also on their way to Kazakhstan,” Kazakhstan’s Civil Aviation Committee said in a...

Emergency medical teams in Kazakhstan may soon be equipped with video badges to record incidents and help protect them from attacks, according to Minister of Healthcare Akmaral Alnazarova. The Mazhilis, Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament, recently approved the ministry’s other proposal to criminalize violence against healthcare workers.

«One of the key issues is the possibility of equipping our employees with video badges, similar to those used by law enforcement agencies. This matter will also be legally regulated and I don’t think it will be difficult to implement,» Alnazarova said during a briefing at the Mazhilis.

The project for constructing a main gas pipeline from Russia to China via Kazakhstan has already been launched, according to Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Alexander Novak.

«There is a new project under consideration; it was proposed by Russia in conjunction with our Kazakh friends. This is the construction of a gas pipeline capable of exporting 45 billion cubic meters of gas, including 10 billion cubic meters for the gasification of the northern and eastern parts of Kazakhstan and 35 billion cubic meters of gas for export to the People’s Republic of China. As of today...

Azerbaijan has declared national mourning on Dec. 26 in response to the aircraft crash in Aktau, according to the Azerbaijani news agency Report.az. The latest available data indicates that 29 individuals survived out of the 69 on board

Tomorrow, on Dec. 26, in solidarity with the mourning, state flags will be flown at half-mast in Azerbaijan.  

“Dec. 26 has been declared a national day of mourning following the numerous casualties in the air accident,” the agency reported.

The news agency highlighted that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has already signed the resolution, although it has...

An aircraft following the Baku-Grozny route crashed near Aktau, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations. The majority of the 69 passengers on board were citizens of Azerbaijan. Twenty-nine passengers, including two children, survived.

Initial reports about the crash came around 12 p.m. Astana time (UTC+5). A fire broke out at the crash site, and emergency workers arrived to extinguish it. In total, 52 rescuers with 11 units of equipment responded to the scene, managing to put out the fire within 30 minutes.

Various media reported that the crashed Embraer E190AR was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines.

The aircraft that...

Ali Serik, a world champion in Thai boxing, was tragically killed in Almaty at just 20 years old. Police have already detained the suspect, who was reportedly an acquaintance of the young athlete. A criminal investigation has been initiated into the case.

«The Nauryzbay district police department has opened a criminal case on the murder of a 20-year-old man. The suspect was captured ‘in hot pursuit’ and placed in a temporary detention facility. According to preliminary information, a quarrel broke out between the acquaintances, during which one of them used a knife. The weapon used in...

Since March 2023, when the individual bankruptcy law came into effect, Kazakhstanis have had approximately $100 million in loans written off, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Data from Qoldau, a digital platform for businesses and citizens, shows that more than 158,000 citizens have applied for bankruptcy in Kazakhstan. Out of these, 116,300 applications were rejected, over 13,000 were approved and 19,600 cases were finalized.

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of applicants are aged 18 to 40. The Turkestan and Almaty regions lead in the number of applicants, with 18,000 in each region. Almaty city ranks third with 12,800 applicants. In...

KazTransOil (KTO), a Kazakhstani pipeline company and a subsidiary of KazMunayGas, says that a short-term shutdown of the Druzhba pipeline will not impact Kazakhstan’s oil supplies to Germany, as reported by the Interfax news agency. The company also confirmed that oil supplies will proceed as initially scheduled.

«The oil shipment will be fulfilled according to the timeline adopted by the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan,» KTO said in a statement.

On Dec. 20, some media outlets reported that oil shipment to Europe via the Druzhba pipeline was suspended due to technical issues. The pipeline is...

Kazakhstani EMC Agro has exported 20 tons of frozen pork to Armenia and is looking into delivering the same amount of meat to Georgia. The Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan believes that new markets are going to increase the export share to potentially 50% of the total meat production.  

«Armenia and Georgia’s markets unlock new horizons. Both nations have expressed their willingness to acquire up to 400 tons of our product monthly,» the company said in a statement.

Previously, EMC Agro, whose current production capacity varies between 700 and 800 tons of pork per...