Category Archives: Kazakhstan

UK MP and peer on Kazakhstan visit denied access to opposition leader

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Trip to examine country’s rights record derailed as meetings with government officials also cancelled

A high-profile trip by two senior UK parliamentarians to Kazakhstan to examine its human rights record has almost immediately run into trouble as they were denied access to a jailed opposition leader who is the focus of the visit.

The former director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald and the former justice secretary Robert Buckland were not permitted to meet the head of the unregistered Democratic party of Kazakhstan, Zhanbolat Mamai, or senior Kazakh diplomats.

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Putin’s grip on regional allies loosens again after Armenia snub

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Damaging optics of ‘family’ photo at CSTO summit highlights fragility of Russia’s influence in wake of war in Ukraine

Armenia has asked the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to chair peace talks with Azerbaijan in a fresh challenge to Vladimir Putin’s increasingly loose grip on Russia’s regional allies in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

The snub from a traditional ally to Putin, who had hosted an inconsequential meeting of the warring countries’ leaders last month, comes immediately on the back of his disastrous summit with six former Soviet states.

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UK investigation to examine human rights abuses in Kazakhstan

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Commission to focus on detention of journalist and political leader Zhanbolat Mamai after nationwide protests

The state of human rights in the vast, mineral-rich central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan, including the continued detention of opposition leaders, is to be formally examined by senior UK parliamentarians including the former director of public prosecutions Lord MacDonald.

He will lead an independent investigation into the detention and treatment of Zhanbolat Mamai, the leader of the unregistered opposition Democratic party in Kazakhstan.

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Four media outlets facing libel claims over Nursultan Nazarbayev reports

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Complaints filed by charity named after ex-president reopen the debate over legal action against public interest journalism

Four media outlets in the UK and the US are facing libel claims after publishing investigative reports into allegations about the assets of a fund named after the former Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), openDemocracy and the Telegraph received several “pre-action” letters between May and August claiming their reporting was inaccurate and caused financial losses to a UK-registered company.

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Former Soviet states eye opportunities as Russia struggles in Ukraine

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Moscow’s influence in the Caucasus and central Asia is being unravelled by its ‘special military operation’

The rout of the Russian army in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region seems likely to be a turning point in Kyiv’s battle to kick Russian troops out of the country, but it may also cause much broader fallout for Moscow in the wider region, as other former Soviet countries witness what appears to be the limits of Moscow’s capabilities.

“The power of the Russian flag has declined considerably, and the security system across the former Soviet space does seem to be broken,” said Laurence Broers, associate fellow at Chatham House.

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Kazakhstan to change name of capital from Nur-sultan back to Astana

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The capital of the central Asian country was renamed Nur-sultan in 2019 in honour of outgoing president Nursultan Nazarbayev

Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has agreed to restore the former name of the country’s capital just three years after he renamed it in honour of his predecessor, his spokesperson said.

Tokayev’s spokesman, Ruslan Zheliban, said the president agreed to the name change after an initiative by a group of MPs.

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Iranian satellite launched by Russia could be used for Ukraine surveillance

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Tehran denies Khayyam satellite will be under Russian control, despite reported admission by Moscow

Russia has launched an Iranian satellite from Kazakhstan amid concerns it could be used for battlefield surveillance in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Iran has denied that the Khayyam satellite, which was delivered into orbit onboard a Soyuz rocket launched from Baikonur cosmodrome, would ever be under Russian control.

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Kazakhs vote to strip founding figure Nazarbayev of privileges in referendum

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Preliminary results show 77% of voters backed constitutional changes after January protests in which more than 230 people died

Kazakhs have overwhelmingly voted for constitutional changes in a referendum after deadly unrest ended founding leader Nursultan Nazarbayev’s three-decade grip on Central Asia’s richest country, the election commission says.

“The referendum can be considered validated,” electoral commission chair Nurlan Abdirov said on Monday, citing preliminary results that 77% of voters had backed the move.

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‘We want the truth’: families of ethnic Pamiris killed in Tajikistan call for justice as tensions rise

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Urgent protection for minority groups facing increased repression needed in crisis connected to escalating clashes across central Asian ex-Soviet region, say human rights groups

Parents of men killed by Tajikistan forces have called on the international community to step in and urgently protect ethnic groups being targeted by the Tajik regime.

In a rare interview, families from the Pamiri ethnic minority have demanded that soldiers who killed their sons be brought to justice and urged the UN to prevent a new phase of conflict in Tajikistan, a landlocked country in central Asia.

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‘His family robbed the country’: personality cult of ex-Kazakh leader crumbles

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Anger over corruption and economic inequality is largely directed at Nursultan Nazarbayev and family

Walking through the home-town museum built to honour Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former Kazakhstan president who built a personality cult around his rule, there are few signs of the anger that swept across the central Asian country earlier this month.

Visitors to the imposing three-storey building in Shamalgan are treated to a maquette of the house where the young Nazarbayev grew up, a Mercedes that was part of his presidential motorcade in a glass box in the museum’s grounds, and family artefacts including a suit worn by his brother.

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Where is Kazakhstan’s former longtime leader Nursultan Nazarbayev?

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Analysis: All-encompassing status that took 30 years to build appears to have crumbled in just of a few days

It is a question being asked with increasing urgency by intelligence services, multinational companies and most citizens of Kazakhstan: where is Nursultan Nazarbayev?

Kazakhstan’s leader from 1991 until 2019, Nazarbayev has long been the arbiter of all business and political decisions in the central Asian nation, and the purveyor of an all-encompassing personality cult. In 2019, he handpicked a successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, while retaining power behind the scenes. The capital city, along with its airport and main university were all renamed after him.

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Kazakhstan authorities raise death toll from unrest to 225

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Prosecutor says dead include security forces and ‘armed bandits’, with toll dramatically increased from previous figures

The violent unrest in Kazakhstan that began with peaceful protests in early January has left 225 people dead, authorities have said in a dramatic increase on previous tolls.

“During the state of emergency, the bodies of 225 people were delivered to morgues, of which 19 were law enforcement officers and military personnel,” Serik Shalabayev, the head of criminal prosecution at the prosecutor’s office, told a briefing on Saturday.

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Kazakhstan: Russian-led military bloc to start withdrawing troops, says president

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Withdrawal to start in two days, says Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, as new PM appointed and detentions rise to nearly 10,000

A Russian-led military bloc will start withdrawing its troops from Kazakhstan in two days’ time, Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has told the country’s parliament.

Troops from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) will depart the central Asian nation completely over a period of 10 days, he said on Tuesday.

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As order is restored in Kazakhstan, its future remains murky

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The tragic events of last week, in which dozens lost their lives, have exposed hidden political tensions

For many Kazakhs, the full story behind the unrest of the past week remains as murky as the mist that enveloped Almaty, the country’s largest city and the centre of violence, at the same time.

People were unable to access accurate information, as an internet blackout froze almost all access to the outside world during a tragic few days of violence in which military vehicles rolled through the streets, government buildings burned and state television carried rolling threats that “bandits and terrorists” would be eliminated without mercy.

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Desmond Tutu’s funeral and Kazakhstan clashes: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Mexico to Hong Kong

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Kazakhstan detains former national security chief on suspicion of treason

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Karim Masimov was fired this week as unrest raged across the country, with dozens killed and public buildings ransacked

The former head of Kazakhstan’s domestic intelligence agency has been detained on suspicion of high treason, the agency said, after he was fired amid violent protests.

The National Security Committee, or KNB, said in a statement on Saturday that its former chief Karim Masimov had been detained on Thursday after it launched an investigation into charges of high treason.

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Kazakhstan president vows to destroy ‘bandits and terrorists’ behind protests

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Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tells security forces to ‘use lethal force without warning’

The president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has promised an uncompromising crackdown on demonstrators in the country, telling security forces they should “use lethal force without warning” against protesters he called “bandits and terrorists”.

On Friday, relative calm returned to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city and the centre of recent tumult, and some residents ventured out for the first time in several days. They found looted shops, shattered glass and many burnt-out cars, with the grim atmosphere intensified by the thick mist enveloping the city.

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Putin taking a risk in Kazakhstan and may hope for reward

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Analysis: CSTO may be an alliance but decision to intervene was almost certainly taken in Moscow

The old joke about the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact was that it was the only military alliance to attack itself, after its tanks rolled into Prague in 1968 to crush a reform movement there.

With the deployment of troops from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) to Kazakhstan on Thursday, some heard “eerie echoes” of the so-called Prague spring of 1968, and the Soviet crushing of the Hungarian revolution in 1956.

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Dozens of protesters and police dead amid Kazakhstan unrest

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Witnesses in Almaty describe scenes of chaos in streets as Russian ‘peacekeepers’ arrive in country

Dozens of protesters and at least 12 police officers have died in ongoing violence in Kazakhstan, authorities have claimed, as “peacekeepers” from a Russian-led military alliance arrived in the country at the request of the embattled president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Witnesses in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, described scenes of chaos on Thursday, with government buildings being stormed or set on fire and widespread looting. Many of those demonstrating said the protests had begun peacefully earlier in the week, and turned violent after a heavy-handed government response.

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How Tony Blair advised former Kazakh ruler after 2011 uprising

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British former PM told Nursultan Nazarbayev to stress he ‘understood’ critics and to say reforms would ‘take time’

The newly knighted Sir Tony Blair is one of several well-paid western advisers who have burnished the image of Kazakhstan’s former ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev and his autocratic regime, now the target of angry protesters.

Narzabayev invited Blair to give him strategic advice after Kazakh security forces shot dead 14 people during the country’s December 2011 anti-government uprising. The protesters in the western oil town of Zhanaozen were demanding higher wages.

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