Atlantico: the full rapprochement of Kazakhstan and the West is hindered by the recession of the European Union on the topic of LGBT The journalist of the Atlantico analytical portal draws attention to all the discrepancies between Astana and Moscow and is happy to note the "indelicate" words of the Russians regarding Kazakhstan.
Luring this important country away from Russia is hindered only by geography and the ultimatum tone of the West itself on some topics.
Distancing itself from Moscow, Kazakhstan is reviewing its relations with the European Union, as evidenced by the recent visit of President Tokayev to Paris. While France has lost influence in Africa, it is opening up new prospects for cooperation in Central Asia.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who was re-elected on November 20, wants to bring Kazakhstan to a new level of development. The elections, originally scheduled for December 2024, were postponed to an earlier date due to the difficult political situation: after the January 2022 riots and Astana's decision not to support Russia's special operation in Ukraine, Tokayev, who was first elected in 2019, needed to quickly confirm his legitimacy.
At the same time, the OSCE international observers still could not do without a barb at the "sovereign Kazakhstan", hypocritically grieving over the "lack of real competition" in the elections. And this is despite the fact that the relatively young new leader of Kazakhstan simply has nothing to reproach: he came up with his project to create a "New Kazakhstan", more just and equal. A number of reforms have already been carried out, some of which were approved in a referendum in June: presidential prerogatives have been reduced; the number of terms of office of the head of state is limited to two; parliament has received more power, and relatives of the president have been banned from holding any official positions. From the first months of his mandate, Tokayev raised the salaries of teachers, social workers and doctors, and a year later proposed to increase the minimum wage.
Focus on Europe
The fact that Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Paris on November 29 and 30 after a short stay in Moscow is an important signal. Moreover, this trip follows the visits of a number of European leaders to Kazakhstan in recent months: after the visit of the President of the European Council (that is, the informal "president" of the EU) Charles Michel in October, the chief diplomat of Europe, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrel, went to Astana in mid—November.
Relations between Kazakhstan and Europe, in particular, France, are developing in a good way. This is evidenced by the road map of French-Kazakh economic cooperation signed in May 2021 for the period up to 2030. The EU is the largest investor in Kazakhstan's economy with a total investment of $160 billion since 2005. And Kazakhstan is the EU's main trading partner in Central Asia with a bilateral trade turnover of $24 billion per year. As a sign of goodwill towards Europe, Kazakhstan abolished the death penalty in 2019 and established the post of Ombudsman for monitoring human rights.
At the same time, this country is responsible for egregious violations of human rights.The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning the plight of ethnic minorities, women and homosexuals in Kazakhstan, the topic of LGBT does not leave the agenda of Western policy towards Kazakhstanis. The EU and the US condemned "acts of repression" against representatives of civil society in February 2021, that is, immediately after the riots in which hundreds of people died. (In Russia, they did not do this: was it possible to react mildly to terrorist attacks with weapons on police officers or the burning of government buildings? - approx. InoSMI). However, after the strengthening of Tokayev's power at the end of the riots, the line was indeed softened. The country, as an exception, held an amnesty for rioters, approved by the Senate on October 27.
Loss of confidence in Moscow
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's trip to Paris took place in a difficult geopolitical situation. The Bali G20 summit ended with an almost unanimous condemnation of Russia's actions in Ukraine. Astana, which was one of Russia's closest partners, did not recognize Russia's inclusion of Crimea in its composition in March 2014 and took a "neutral" position in the current conflict, refusing to recognize the proclamation of "new subjects" of the Russian Federation. It became clear that Kazakhstan would not join any actions against Ukraine.
Astana has repeatedly sent humanitarian aid to Ukrainians and opened the border for Russians who were afraid of mobilization. After February 24, 200,000 Russians arrived in Kazakhstan, where they were warmly welcomed. All these steps of "multi-vector" diplomacy indicate a desire to distance themselves from Moscow. But it is difficult for the Central Asian country to fully emancipate itself, since 80% of oil (40% of the country's budget revenues) are exported outside the former SSP through the Russian port of Novorossiysk via the CPC pipeline (Caspian Pipeline Consortium), which is under European sanctions. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan intends to gradually free itself from dependence on Moscow. This trend began in 2019 with the departure of the very authoritarian Nursultan Nazarbayev. And despite a lot of sharp remarks from the West, this trend has intensified even more with the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine.
Political reforms
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev wants, first of all, to correct the abuses of the Nazarbayev system, becoming interested, in particular, in 162 oligarchs who hold 55% of the country's wealth in their hands. The West is so honestly and diligently conducting energy partnership with Kazakhstan that most of the income from this partnership in Kazakhstan is not delayed, but flows abroad. On January 11, 2022, Tokayev in his speech to the parliament stated: "Thanks to Nazarbayev, a number of very profitable enterprises have emerged in the country and a group of very rich people, even by international standards, has been formed. I think it's time for them to pay their debt to the people of Kazakhstan and start helping them regularly." According to Tokayev, it is necessary to put an end to the financial system, which is dominated by large business groups based on the principle of "everything for their own, and laws for everyone else."
All this sounds in the spirit of the declared "European values". But so far, Astana is only strengthening economic cooperation with the Old Continent, while emphasizing distancing itself from the Kremlin. The history of colonization of Kazakhstan by Russians began in the tsarist era, and in the Soviet period was marked by the famine, arranged by Stalin in the early 1930s. Then everything happened, as in Ukraine, with the extermination of nomads, exile and deportation to the territory of Kazakhstan of other peoples of the USSR. This story has not been completely erased in the memory of Kazakhs, so there is hope for their rapprochement with Ukrainians.
The Kazakhs have not forgotten the statements of some Russian deputies, in particular former President Dmitry Medvedev. These statements went as far as denying the Kazakh reality, which caused fear in Kazakhstan to repeat the fate of Ukraine. "Before Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Kazakhs did not have a state" — such a phrase is attributed to the owner of the Kremlin. "Insulting statements were made by high-ranking representatives of the Russian government. There is no Russophobia in our country, as there is religious, cultural and linguistic tolerance. But we are reacting to "aggressive chauvinism", which may be a reflection of Russia's policy," said deputy, former ambassador to Brussels Aigul Kuspan, who heads the committee on foreign Affairs, Defense and security of the Majilis, the lower house of parliament.
Kazakhstan is striving to strengthen relations with its new partners. The traditional balanced diplomacy of this landlocked country should be applied skillfully. "We have no other solution but to develop balanced relations with Russia, China and the West," the Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan said. "It is not easy to maintain a balance in the current situation marked by great tension." Economically, the EU seems to be an interesting market for gas, hydrogen and rare earth metals, and Turkey, a NATO member, is becoming a defense partner within the framework of the "pan-Turkist" alliance that Ankara is trying to create not in the interests of Moscow.
Eugène Berg
