u/yepuz

In August 1991, I happened to be at the White House in Moscow and witnessed events that changed history. I stood just a few dozen meters away from Boris Yeltsin when he was being helped onto the tank.

Decades later, I wrote down everything I truly remember about those days: the atmosphere in Moscow, conversations with ordinary people, the sense of unreality, and a feeling that the Soviet Union was about to collapse.

https://yep.uz/en/2025/07/moscow-august-1991-eyewitness-memories/

Considering Trump's move to another aircraft and the apparent risk posed to journalists, it was a good thing that when we flew with Islam Karimov, we were always on a different plane.

Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced the extradition of Georgy Sorokin, better known as Zhora Tashkentsky, from Egypt.

Sorokin, a Tashkent native and Russian citizen, was detained in Sharm El-Sheikh and transferred to Uzbekistan through cooperation involving Interpol channels, according to Uzbek authorities.

He is wanted in connection with a Tashkent case involving alleged extortion and the unlawful acquisition of two residential properties. Open sources and media reports have linked Sorokin for decades to organized crime networks across the former Soviet Union and described him as a “vor v zakone” — a title used in the post-Soviet criminal hierarchy.

Full article: https://yep.uz/en/2026/07/zhora-tashkentsky-georgy-sorokin-uzbekistan/

The fourth hearing in the case of blogger Aziz Hakimov (Comrade Aziz) has already taken place in Tashkent, but the story has taken a far more unexpected turn beyond Uzbekistan's borders.

At a Moscow roundtable organized by the Russian publication Ridus, Hakimov was discussed not only as a defendant in a criminal case. His lawyer openly framed the issue as a confrontation between a pro-Russian and a pro-Ukrainian blogger, while other participants debated Russia’s influence in Central Asia, the prospect of a “new anti-Russia,” and even the sovereignty of the region’s states.

Read the full story on Yep. uz:

https://yep.uz/en/2026/07/aziz-hakimov-case-tashkent-court-moscow-central-asia-debate/

The share of Uzbekistan’s shadow economy has declined from 35% to 23% over the past two years, according to data presented to President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. During the same period, an additional 38 trillion soums were recovered for the state budget, while the number of officially employed workers exceeded 8.5 million.

However, the scale of the unobserved economy remains significant. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, it was estimated at 81.1 trillion soums in agriculture, 24.5 trillion soums in trade and services, and 23.9 trillion soums in construction.

The government aims to halve the shadow economy by 2030. To achieve this, authorities are launching the “Shadow Economy Map,” a digital platform designed to identify risks and potential budget losses across the country. Read more about the figures, targets, and the new monitoring system on our website.

https://yep.uz/en/2026/06/shadow-economy-uzbekistan-declined-from-35-to-23-percent/

Shavkat Mirziyoyev arrived in St. Petersburg for a meeting with Vladimir Putin and participation in SPIEF 2026. The talks took place against the backdrop of Ukrainian drone attacks on the opening day of the forum and a noticeably smaller presence of foreign leaders compared to previous years.

The main outcome of the visit was the launch of construction of Uzbekistan’s first nuclear power plant. Moscow and Tashkent placed different emphases in their official statements: the Kremlin highlighted the alliance and Russia’s role, while the Uzbek side focused on economic development, safety and the country’s technological modernization.

What Putin and Mirziyoyev said, how the accounts of the two presidential press services differ, and why the nuclear power plant project became the key event of the visit — read the full article.

https://yep.uz/en/2026/06/mirziyoyev-putin-st-petersburg-spief-2026/

The Last Bell in the USSR — Tashkent, School No. 183, May 1979. Forty-seven years later, an old photograph of Class 10-A turned out to be more than just a keepsake. It became a reason to remember teachers, classmates, emigration, Soviet school life, and things that were considered normal at the time — from paid tutoring to bullying and the strange behavior of some teachers.

The article includes names, destinies, and criticism of Soviet education without nostalgic gloss, and personal memories of a school in Chilanzar. It is also an attempt to answer honestly whether “students were really taught better back then.”

Read the full article here: The Last Bell in Tashkent, USSR, in 1979: criticism, names and memories

The Kremlin and the press service of Uzbekistan’s president presented the Moscow talks between Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Vladimir Putin differently. The Russian side emphasized “special” relations and Mirziyoyev’s participation in the Victory Day parade “despite external signals and threats.” Tashkent focused on trade, investment, and industrial cooperation while avoiding political language. We compared the statements from both sides and examined what they reveal about the current state of relations between Uzbekistan and Russia. Mirziyoyev and Putin in the Kremlin emphasize “special” ties amid external pressure