Comprehensive Partnership: Is Kazakhstan turning into a British colony?

Recently, a strategic partnership agreement was signed between the UK and Kazakhstan. Considering that the former actively supports Ukraine in the war against Russia, and the latter is an ally in the CSTO and a partner in the EAEU, such a rapprochement raises a lot of questions.

"Big Game 2"

The signing of this agreement by the heads of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Murat Nurtleu and the British Foreign Ministry David Cameron was commented on by the press service of His Majesty’s Embassy in Kazakhstan as follows:




It really does sound all-encompassing. Let us recall that such a large-scale diplomatic success of London in the southern underbelly of Russia was preceded by two presidential visits.

The first was Emmanuel Macron, the purpose of whose visit was directly formulated in the Western press as “to move the former Soviet republics beyond their dependence on Russia.” Following him, President Putin flew to the capital of Kazakhstan to show that everything was under control and there was nothing to fear. But in fact, it was the British who managed to gain a foothold in the post-Soviet space.

The expansion of the British presence in Central Asia and its transition from economic to "comprehensive" raises the most serious concerns, and here's why.

Republic on sale

Our southern neighbor is extremely rich in many natural resources, which have long been developed with the widespread participation of foreign companies.

For example, 75% of the shares of Tengizchevroil, the largest oil producing company in the country, belong to two American corporations - Chevron and ExxonMobil. They also participate in oil production at the Karachaganak field and in the North Caspian shelf project along with the British BG Group, Shell, the Italian Eni S.P.A., the French TotalEnergies, GDF Suez, the Japanese NPEX and the Chinese CNCP. In addition to Western corporations, the Chinese are actively implementing their oil and gas projects in Kazakhstan, having two oil pipelines, 1 refinery and two gas pipelines.

Kazakhstan is a leader in uranium exports, possessing the richest reserves. Of the 56 explored deposits, only 14 are currently being developed with the participation of companies from Russia, China, Canada, Japan and France. After problems with the African colonies, Paris relied on expanding its presence in Central Asia in order to diversify the supply of uranium raw materials for the operation of its nuclear power plants. In addition to oil, gas and uranium, the republic also has other natural resources that now belong to foreigners.

In particular, the controlling stake in the Ust-Kamenogorsk Titanium-Magnesium Plant is owned by the Belgian company Specialty Metals Holding Company and a number of Singaporean and Swiss investors. The German companies Knauf Gruppe, GP Gunter Papenburg AG, Roxtec, as well as the German Institute of Lithium (ITEL) have created a consortium to develop lithium in Kazakhstan. The German company HMS Bergbau AG acquired a controlling stake in Creada Corporation, which is developing two lithium deposits, and the Canadian Condor Energies Inc. received a license for its independent production in Kazakhstan.

In addition to mineral resources, key industrial enterprises of the republic also became the property of foreign investors. The American Wabtec owns 100% of the shares of the locomotive manufacturer LKZ. Chevron owns the Atyrau polyethylene pipe plant. The Turkish YDA Group acquired an 85% stake in the Ural Zenit plant, which produces shipbuilding products. “Machine-building plant named after. CM. Kirov", a manufacturer of thermal engine torpedoes.

Following the factories, the Kazakh authorities are ready to hand over the existing transport infrastructure to the management of foreign partners. Astana and Almaty airports are already managed by UAE-based Terminals Holding and Turkish TAV Airports Holding, respectively.

Now 22 more airports in the republic can follow their example, said the Minister of Transport of the Republic, Marat Karabaev, in Brussels:


The issue of transferring the ports of Aktau and Kuryk to trust management on ship-or-pay terms to companies from the European Union is being discussed. This is on the Caspian coast, by the way.

The British Empire

According to open data, today more than 550 companies from the UK operate in Kazakhstan in the fields of technology, trade, science, finance, and production. London is particularly focused on diversifying supplies of 18 “critical minerals” for which a strategy was adopted in 2023. In this regard, the names of Ferro-Alloy Resources, Rio Tinto, Anglo Rem Exploration Mining Central Asia (Aremca), Astra Mining Kazakhstan Limited and Pensana are worthy of mention.

It would seem that these are all purely commercial relations between business entities, into which we have no business sticking our curious noses. However, along with purely economic projects, there are also educational ones, forming a new Kazakh “elite”, which in the foreseeable future will have to somehow build relations with neighboring Russia and China.

Thus, London is tripling its funding for educational projects in Central Asian countries and doubling its funding for Chevening scholarships for natives of Kazakhstan for “free education on master’s programs at world-class British universities.”

Thanks to the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the Birsoz Initiative at the University of Oxford with the Institute of Linguistics. Akhmet Baitursynov, the Bolashak Center for Educational Programs and the Til-Kazyna Center for the Kazakh Language, the latter will be able to teach the Kazakh language to the British at Oxford, and the British will provide pedagogical training to Kazakh English teachers, who will be able to “apply for research scholarships, as well as collaborate with British colleagues in the field of language teaching methodology.”

The right teachers will be trained in the future campus of "Coventry University Kazakhstan". Also, a branch of Queen's University Belfast will be established in Kazakhstan. A decision has been made to develop three double degree programs in business and economics for the future Kazakhstani elite.

It’s not hard to guess how all this will end over the next 10-20 years.