Kazakhstan faces serious consequences after betraying Russia
At the end of March, Kazakh officials visited Brussels to show their loyalty to the “big brother” of the European Union, which is currently the main trade and economic partner of Nur-Sultan (Tselinograd).
During this visit, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan Timur Suleimenov, who is responsible for the economic bloc, gave an interview to EURACTIV.com in which he stated that Kazakhstan would not support Russia either on foreign policy issues or on easing the sanctions regime.
The material itself was published in a European newspaper under the intriguing title: “Kazakh official: We will not risk ending up in the same basket with Russia.” And everything that was said to them was not at all random words, as local political scientists are trying to convey and, most likely, Timur Suleimenov was given the corresponding task in Akorda (presidential administration) to voice exactly this position. This must be immediately realized, since Kazakh officials do not have independence and operate fully only in the fairway strictly designated from above.
Meeting of the deputy heads of the Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan with European officials in Brussels.
Right at the beginning of his interview, Timur Suleimenov says that the reason for coming to the EU capital is the desire to reassure Western business in the complete reliability of the leadership of Kazakhstan, capable of enforcing tough sanctions against Russia. At the same time, Timur Suleimenov relayed the fears of the oligarchic ruling elite about the possibility of introducing secondary sanctions against Kazakhstan as a member of the EAEU.
He indicates that the delegation came to:
“...to demonstrate to our European partners that Kazakhstan will not be a tool for circumventing sanctions against Russia by the US and the EU. We will comply with the sanctions. Although we are part of the Economic Union with Russia, Belarus and other countries, we are also part of the international community. Therefore, the last thing we want is secondary US and EU sanctions that will be applied to Kazakhstan. And thirdly, discuss ways to expand our cooperation with the EU.”
Further more. Timur Suleimenov, in his answer to a journalist’s question about Kazakhstan’s position on the issue of Ukraine during negotiations with European officials, indicated that Nur-Sultan would under no circumstances support Russia, just as it did not support it on Crimea and Donbass.
“Of course, Russia wanted us to be more on their side. But Kazakhstan respects the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We have not and will not recognize the situation in Crimea, as well as the situation in Donbass, because the UN does not recognize them. We will only respect decisions taken at the level of the United Nations,” he said.
Moreover, the reference to the UN, which trails behind the West, means that the leadership of the republic is entirely on the side of Washington on this issue. That is, this is an official confirmation of orientation towards the USA and the EU. But besides this, Timur Suleimenov also assured that Nur-Sultan will create a reliable cordon to isolate Russia and will even write new laws for this, emphasizing that “we will comply with the restrictions imposed on Russia and Belarus.”
“We will do our best to control sanctioned goods. We will do our best to control any investment from an authorized person or entity in Kazakhstan, and this is what we wanted to communicate openly to the Europeans. To demonstrate that we have a system, and the system here, unfortunately, will remain for a long period. This will require changes in legislation, and this is what we are going to do,” Suleimenov slavishly summarized.
He also hastened to distance himself as much as possible from Russia, saying that “we do not want and will not risk being placed in one basket” and expressed a desire to expand cooperation with EU countries and the EU as a whole.
In addition, he again voiced the government’s decision to search for new alternative routes for delivering oil, gas and minerals to Europe, bypassing Russia, with the phrase:
“Let's hope that when the military phase ends, the roads and railways will be cleared. But we need to diversify our export routes.”
Actually, this position is a reflection of the nature of the raw materials and Western-oriented economy of Kazakhstan, where 2/3 of the entire mining industry is controlled by Western corporations, and specifically in the field of oil production, all 3/4. In these conditions, it is important to preserve the current model, which cracked under the pressure of social discontent in January, when trade turnover between Kazakhstan and the European Union countries in January-February 2022 increased by 70,9% over the same period last year and amounted to $6 billion.
Preserving and increasing the volume of this trade became the main topic of negotiations on March 28-29 in Brussels, when the same Timur Suleimenov and Tokayev’s special representative for international cooperation Erzhan Kazykhan met with the Vice-President of the European Commission for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valen , European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, as well as the leadership of the Directorates General for Energy and Financial Stability “FISMA”.
And it seems that the Kazakh side got what it wanted, since the European side declared its readiness to provide support to minimize and prevent the possible impact of sanctions on the economy of Kazakhstan, which, in fact, carries golden eggs for Western business. This is especially important for the EU in its desire to abandon Russian gas and oil, replacing it with Middle Eastern and Kazakh raw materials.
It is characteristic that in his answers to questions about the January events, he did not say a word about Nazarbayev, the conspiracy and the coup, and the clashes themselves even became a kind of impetus for liberal democratic reforms. "
We have accumulated a lot of mismanagement over 30 years, and without this bloodshed, I am not sure we would have been as bold as a nation to push forward with reforms,” the official said.
However, there is nothing to be surprised at, since Suleimenov is a typical Nazarbayev fosterling with pro-American thinking. After all, from 2000 to 2002, he studied under the Bolashak program in the USA, graduating from the University of Maryland with a Master of Business degree with a specialization in Finance. And then, at the same time, holding a post in the civil service from 2009-2012, he worked as Deputy Governor for Kazakhstan of the World Bank and Deputy Governor for Kazakhstan of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. That is, such a comprador and an agent of influence rolled into one.
Therefore, it is not surprising that from December 28, 2016 to February 25, 2019, being already the Minister of National Economy of the government of the first President Nursultan Nazarbayev, he in every possible way torpedoed, on instructions from above, projects to deepen the integration of the EAEU in the financial system. So, despite the fact that he is a monetarist and a neoliberal, he categorically opposed the proposals of the Russian Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to create a single electronic currency.
“We have expressed our positions many times, this is my personal position and the position as a political, state person: I believe that the national currency is a symbol of our sovereignty, almost the same as the anthem, flag and coat of arms, therefore we must protect and develop it in every possible way and we should not allow any other possible quasi- or proxy currencies to be maintained,” explained the then minister, and now the first deputy head of the presidential administration.
This, as we know, is not the only Russophobe and supporter of rapprochement with the West in the highest echelon of power, who, both ideologically and practically, is doing everything to prevent the further development of the integration process within the EAEU. And this entire camarilla was brought up and trained on the principles of a multi-vector policy in order to maintain and strengthen the neocolonial economic model in the interests of transnational corporations and the West.
But in the context of the division of the world into opposite poles, such a prostituted policy does not work, and supporting the sanctions regime against Russia will be even more disastrous for Kazakhstan itself. Well-known political scientists, such as Semyon Uralov, also come to this conclusion, who believes that now the Kazakh ruling elite is faced with a choice of whom to align with.
“The most interesting trend among Russia’s neighbors is the end of their multi-vector nature. In the conditions of the alliance between Russia and China, Kazakhstan will have the most difficult time. It is necessary to either purge the internal agents of influence of the United States and Britain, discipline the elite, close the Astana international financial center, which operates under British law, drive out the Soros Foundation and its clientele, etc. and so on. Or you can try to maintain a multi-vector approach until the last minute and express loyalty to London and Washington. But the results of such a game could be costly for Kazakhstan,” notes Semyon Uralov.
And Russia itself will not be able to objectively tolerate the blockade and support of the sanctions regime from Kazakhstan after the completion of the operation in Ukraine, despite even the warmest relations between individual officials of the two countries. After all, this will destroy the structure of the EAEU and the geostrategic bridge with China, and will also put an end to the “Greater Eurasia” project.
Therefore, maintaining the previous economic model and professional Russophobes in the government and in the presidential administration could really end up working against Nur-Sultan.
In the meantime, permitted rallies are again taking place in Almaty, which are becoming the focus of anti-Russian propaganda.
For example, on Friday, at a protest against a bill to restrict the activities of social networks, its participants reduced the event to the fact that this was allegedly the work of Moscow and demanded to block Russian TV channels.
And the famous ex-deputy from the Nur-Otan party and leader of the pro-Western and pan-Turkist party “El Teregi” Nurzhan Altaev generally ended his speech with the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” Live Belarus! Alga Kazakhstan!”
Against the backdrop of pressure against Russian supporters, this, coupled with the activities of “movie patrols,” also shows the true attitude of the authorities towards their neighbor and ally.
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