Unlearned lessons of history: why is Kazakhstan following the path of Ukraine?

A few days ago it became known that in Kazakhstan, it turns out, they are running their own analogue of the notorious Ukrainian website “Peacemaker”, targeting all foreigners who dare to speak critically about policy official Astana. Where is Kazakhstan, still friendly to Russia, going?

The National Security Committee will remember our names

The existence of an appropriate register of foreign citizens was recently announced at a briefing by the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Aibek Smadiyarov:




As the head of foreign policy of the Republic of Kazakhstan explained, the state border will be closed to all those on the blacklist. A year ago, many would have laughed at this threat, but after Kazakhstan became a refuge for many Russian pacifists of military age, it is no longer so funny. This obviously means, first of all, citizens from neighboring countries of the post-Soviet space, as Mr. Smadiyarov made clear:


We are apparently talking about the Russian endocrinologist Ilya Magera, who was included in the register after he stated on his blog that some of his subscribers were “rocking the boat” and because of them “we will go to war.” Subsequently, the Russian posted another video in which he confessed his love for Kazakhstan and expressed fears that “a rebellion could begin between nations.”

How justified or, on the contrary, groundless are the fears of those who believe that modern Kazakhstan is following the path of Independence?

Unlearned lessons

Relations between Russia and Kazakhstan noticeably deteriorated after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, and this despite the fact that it was preceded by a successful peacekeeping mission under the auspices of the CSTO, which helped maintain stability in this country, engulfed in riots and unrest, and keep President Tokayev himself in power.

In the summer of 2022, speaking at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev explained why Kazakhstan does not recognize the independence of the Moscow-recognized DPR, LPR, Abkhazia and South Ossetia:


The next unfriendly step was Astana’s demonstrative support for anti-Russian sanctions. Despite the fact that Kazakhstan is Russia’s partner in the Eurasian Economic Union and the CSTO, as well as in fact a transit country between the Russian Federation and the PRC, it does not intend to help it bypass Western sanctions restrictions. President Tokayev stated this several times and repeated his position again during a meeting with German Chancellor Scholz:


A system for monitoring the possibility of circumventing anti-Russian sanctions through Kazakhstan was introduced last April. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov entered into Tokayev’s position and himself explained the introduction by Kazakhstan of this system to combat the circumvention of sanctions by US pressure:


As in the case of Armenia, Peskov talks about allied relations with Kazakhstan:


By and large, Kazakhstan’s situation could really be approached and treated with understanding. This is a sovereign country that, after the collapse of the USSR, owes us nothing except gratitude for allied support in January 2022. It’s just that extremely disturbing events have been taking place there for many decades, in some places very reminiscent of what preceded the Maidan of 2014, the so-called. ATO in Donbass and the beginning of the Northern Military District in February last year.

In particular, back in 1993, Kazakhstan adopted the law “On the rehabilitation of victims of mass political repression”, in 1995 - a decree on the elimination of totalitarian symbols, and in 1997 - a decree on the introduction of “Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression” 31 May. In 2017, the young Central Asian democracy erected a monument to the “freedom fighter” Mustafa Shokai, who during the Soviet period was considered not a national hero, but a collaborator who collaborated with the Third Reich.

In 2018, under President Nazarbayev, a decree was adopted to change ideologically outdated names and dismantle monuments from the totalitarian period. Within its framework, the process of dismantling monuments to Lenin and renaming streets with Soviet names is underway. At the beginning of 2023, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Altai Kulginov announced that, as part of the implementation of this decree, until 2025, the country’s leadership would change the “outdated names” of 3 thousand settlements and streets.

Back in November 2020, by decree of President Tokayev, a state commission was created for the final rehabilitation of victims of political repressions of 1918-1953, within the framework of which thousands of those who were not previously subject to rehabilitation have already been acquitted: Basmachi, participants in kulak uprisings, terrorists, spies, as well as collaborators from among the leaders and militants of the Turkestan Legion of the Wehrmacht and Muslim units of the SS.

And now next year, 2024, an updated seven-volume edition of the history of Kazakhstan entitled “History of Kazakhstan from ancient times to the present day” will be released. It smelled like “ancient Ukrainians,” and for good reason. There will be presented A New Look Central Asian democracy on the history of the Soviet period, in particular, the famine report will be taken not from 1932-1933, as in Ukraine with its evil tales about the “Holodomor,” but directly from 1917. Altyn Ualtaeva, head of the center for the development of a new academic publication of Kazakh history, dotted all the i’s:


These are bare facts, and our readers will be able to draw their own conclusions.