Page 3 - bne magazine September 2021_20210901

bne September 2021 Contents I 3
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33 Russia moves to take control of Afghan talks after Taliban takeover
35 Taliban say all the right things at their first press conference – perhaps too right?
36 Kazakhstan freezes apparent Afghan refugee plans amid grumbling
CENTRAL EUROPE
38 Sizzling tensions with China pose new threat to Lithuania’s food exports, rail freight sector
39 North Macedonia’s fugitive ex-PM Gruevski now flogging tableware and cleaning products in Hungary
41 Thousands protest over spyware scandal as Hungary's Fidesz boycotts national security committee
SOUTHEAST EUROPE
42 Stitching Albania’s garment industry back together
45 Lesotho’s Highlands sends world’s largest legal cannabis flower shipment to North Macedonia
46 Moldovan MPs slam prosecutors’ failure to recover funds stolen in $1bn bank frauds
47 Committee head says at least 1,000 protesters and opposition politicians illegally wiretapped in ‘Bulgarian Watergate’
EASTERN EUROPE
48 Western FMCG companies remain top advertisers on Belarusian state TV despite harsh sanctions regime
51 Ukraine’s law enforcement clashes with far right Azov movement
54 The borscht index: The number of portions Russians can afford to cook has been falling
55 Harsh US sanctions on Belaruskali to have limited impact due to loophole
57 Bruce Willis is back in Russia in a “deepfake” advertising campaign for mobile phone company Megafon
EURASIA
58 Uzbekistan’s energy sector overhaul
60 Georgia’s ruling party abandons EU brokered deal that ended country’s political crisis
61 Azerbaijan’s 'foreign' Olympic team frustrates fans
OPINION
62 US pulls out of Afghanistan to focus on China problem, but that is harder now
64 Duma Elections 2021: Russia’s Communist Party looks interesting again
65 HESS: Europe goes sectoral on Belarus
67 The EU finally gets tough with Hungary and Poland
NEW EUROPE IN NUMBERS
71 Bank stocks drive Warsaw Stock Exchange’s main index to all-time high
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