Express departure from Russia: Partner Kazakhstan gives Putin a political blow
Created: 2022-04-08 04:51
By: Patrick Mayer
The pool photo released by Russia's state-run Sputnik news agency via AP shows Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, attending a Security Council meeting at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow.
© Mikhail Klimentyev/dpa
In the Ukraine war, the important partner Kazakhstan turns away from Russia.
According to a report, it does not recognize the republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
On top of that.
Munich/Moscow/Almaty - It was only in January when the Kazakh President asked his partner Vladimir Putin in Moscow to quell unrest in the capital Nur-Sultan and in Almaty and other regions of the huge country.
Russia's rulers reacted promptly and sent thousands of paratroopers.
A strike force.
Kazakhstan in the Russia-Ukraine War: No military aid from Almaty to Moscow
A military alliance of former Soviet republics stepped in: the CSTO, which is dominated by Russia.
LPG, oil and gasoline prices had skyrocketed in a country rich in natural resources.
Everything that ordinary people need for heating and cooking.
All the raw materials that Kazakhstan has a lot of, but from which very few people make any money.
Which is why they supposedly took to the streets.
Ultimately, there was no coup.
The uprising was brutally suppressed.
Nevertheless, political changes set in.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, until then a close ally of Putin, promised a "new Kazakhstan".
A country where the state serves the citizens - and not the other way around.
Barely a month later, the Russia-Ukraine War* broke out.
The question was: what would the government in Nur-Sultan do?
Surprisingly, she turned her back on Moscow and did not support the Russian ruler's military intervention.
The news that the liberal Eastern European online portal
NEXTA spread
this Tuesday (April 5) has corresponding political implications.
A news site that the ARD and ZDF quote again and again in their Eastern European reporting.
Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi has declared that Kazakhstan will not recognize the so-called republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Their detachment from Ukraine and political ties to Russia are considered to be one of Moscow's main goals in the Ukraine conflict*.
It would be a political blow to Putin.
In the video: Compact - The news about the Russia-Ukraine war
A low blow that had been indicated in the past few weeks of escalation.
NBC News recently reported that Kazakhstan had refused military aid to Russia.
At the UN General Assembly, the Central Asian country abstained from the resolution calling for an end to Russian “aggression” by a very large majority.
Kazakhstan could have voted against the resolution, but did not, which attracted a lot of attention even at the time.
Russia-Ukraine war: Kazakhstan suddenly supports Kyiv - not Moscow
Instead of military support for Moscow, civilian relief supplies followed to Ukraine.
There, the country with its approximately 19 million inhabitants continues to maintain an embassy in the west in Lviv (Lemberg).
individual examples?
Even before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine War*, Kazakhstan had not recognized the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The Kazakh position after the Russian support against the uprising in their own country had been eagerly awaited.
If there is an Iron Curtain again, we don't want to be behind it.
Roman Vassilenko, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan
Finally, Almaty instead sent clear signals of rapprochement with the West.
As the
Tagesspiegel
writes, the Kazakh government has already invited Western investors to relocate their raw materials business from Russia to Central Asia.
Because: Kazakhstan could become very important for the European market with its natural gas and oil.
Only on Tuesday (April 5) did EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen propose an import ban on coal from Russia.
Russia-Ukraine War: Has Vladimir Putin Lost One of His Most Important Allies?
"If there is an Iron Curtain again, we don't want to be behind it.
We therefore hope that it will not fall again," Deputy Foreign Minister Roman Vassilenko told
WELT
: "We are not taking these steps and political reforms to please anyone, including the West.
It's because our president knows it's the only way forward."
In the interview, Vassilenko also confirmed that Kazakhstan* celebrated the 30th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union "with great pride" in December.
Is Putin losing one of his most important allies?
The signs are multiplying.
(pm)
*
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