Putin woos Central Asia: Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik presidents awarded Leo Tolstoy int’l peace prize

Russian President Vladimir Putin presided over a Kremlin ceremony awarding the new International Peace Prize named after Leo Tolstoy to the leaders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, praising their role in finally resolving long‑running border disputes in Central Asia. He said the prize is meant to promote peacemaking, friendship between nations, human rights and a “fair multipolar world order,” and credited Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev with turning contested frontiers into a basis for “good‑neighbourliness, trust and mutual benefit.”