Kazakhstan: Astana wants to review social security payments for the poor   22.09.2025   Article published on the rus.azattyq.org website   Kazakhstan’s President, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has accused his Government of encouraging a “culture of social dependency”.   The country’s Cabinet of Ministers has begun reviewing the rules for providing targeted social assistance, i.e. payments to …

A third of Russians believe that people with dementia “are not full members of society”   22.09.2025   Article published on the asi.org.ru website   These are the findings of a study conducted by the National Agency for Financial Research’s (NAFI) Analytical Centre and the Dementia.net project.   The study was timed to coincide with …

Sergey Sobyanin proposes saving one trillion roubles in health insurance benefits for ten million unemployed Russians   18.09.2025   Article published on the moscowtimes.ru website   The Moscow Mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, has proposed major changes to the health insurance system for unemployed Russians.   At a meeting of the Moscow Financial Forum, he stated that …

Central Asia: The reality of polygamy in the region and its impacts on women and children   17.09.2025   Article published on the rus.azattyq website   A huge row broke out in Kyrgyzstan during the summer over the possibility that polygamy would be legalised. In June, parliamentary deputies approved a package of amendments to the …

The current subsistence minimum in Ukraine does not reflect the actual needs of citizens. Authorities are preparing to revise the indicator to align it with the real cost of living. 15.09.2025 Danylo Hetmantsev, head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, outlined the initiative in an interview with RBC-Ukraine. “We need …

Kazakh women criticise the country’s President for comments against women   13.09.2025   Article published on the rus.azattyq.org website   Kazakh women have criticised the President for his comments about women who allegedly cause public disorder. Women are openly expressing their anger and accusing the head of State of misogyny.   In his state of …

Beneficiaries have until 1 October to decide how they would like to receive their social security benefits   09.09.2025   Article published on the asi.org.ru website   The Russian Social Fund (RSF) has announced that citizens, who are entitled to federal benefits and social support, have until the end of September to choose how they’d …

More than 16,000 displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) have received Armenian citizenship, says the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs   05.09.2025   Article published on the arka.am website   As of 2 September this year, more than 16,000 Armenian citizenship applications have been received from people displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, according to Armen Ghazaryan, Deputy Minister …

In Russia, the number of school starters has gone down by 25% in the last two years 01.09.2025 Article published on the moscowtimes.ru website   In September, around 1.5 million new starters will take their seats in classrooms across Russia. In total, 18 million pupils will be starting/returning to school, according to a Russian Government …

More than 20 Russian regions are introducing penalties for “encouraging women to have abortions”   01.09.2025   Article published on the moscowtimes.ru website   On 1 September, laws to prohibit “encouraging women to have abortions” came into force in the Bryansk and Kirov regions. According to the RBK, similar regulations are already in force in …