The complexities surrounding derussifying names are an example of how past legacies are still felt in the region, affecting even the most basic life decisions.

A Soviet-era Central Asian pop music anthology shines a light on the region's ethnic diversity and music that transcends genres from Korean brass bands to Uyghur garage rock to Crimean jazz.

But even as immigration officials have escalated efforts to remove people from the United States, they continue to fall short ...