Uzbekistan

Growing cities and genuinely cheap daily life: Tashkent has a metro, clinics, international schools and prices well below Russian ones. Russian is widely used, Uzbek is needed more every year, and the dry continental climate delivers a punishing summer and a short mild winter. Visa-free stay is long, while residence permits move slowly and only on formal grounds. The trade-offs are winter air quality, a narrow private healthcare market and almost no English once you leave Tashkent.