04.02.2019

Simon Calder

Turkmenistan Airlines, which also flies to Birmingham, has been added to the European air safety risk register.

One of the leading budget routes between the UK and India has come to an abrupt end after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) placed Turkmenistan Airlines on a blacklist.

The airline from the former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan flies from Heathrow and Birmingham to Delhi and Amritsar via Ashgabat.

It has been banned from flying to or from the EU, according to a Foreign Office notice put out overnight for travellers to India.

A spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority said: «Turkmenistan Airline flights from Birmingham and Heathrow to Amritsar, and Heathrow… >> подробнее

17.01.2019

Bruce Pannier

Turkmen authorities and President Berdymukhammedov probably wish many things were different about the reality they now face...

April will mark 10 years since a mysterious explosion at a gas pipeline leading from Turkmenistan to Russia.

It was arguably the low point in already uneasy relations between Ashgabat and Moscow. In the years that followed the blast, Turkmen-Russian ties were maintained at a bare minimum.

There has been a shift since 2016, possibly driven by the Kremlin's concerns about the security situation in northern Afghanistan and the ability of Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to contain any such threat from spreading to countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The… >> подробнее

11.11.2018

Brian Oliver

Turkmenistan appointed a suspended doper as a national coach to help them prepare their team for the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships, which ended yesterday in Ashgabat, the Turkmen capital.

Extensive evidence, supplied to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) by journalists who campaign against corruption in Turkmenistan, shows that Umurbek Bazarbayev, a four-time Olympian and one of the nation's biggest names in sport, was appointed in the first year of a four-year suspension — in blatant contravention of the rules.

Both Bazarbayev and the Turkmenistan Weightlifting Federation face sanctions.

The evidence includes several references to Bazarbayev, in the state-sponsored media, as assistant national coach.

He is also named, under the alternative… >> подробнее