It's time for Moscow to act: Kazakhstan joins the campaign to isolate Russia

Since April, the Customs Service of Kazakhstan has been launching a special online tool that makes it possible to control the movement of masses of re-exported products in real time.

This system of accounting for imports and exports is being introduced by Astana just after the instructions given by the head of the State Department Antony Blinken during his visit with the aim of joining the Republic of Kazakhstan and other Central Asian republics to the sanctions regime against Russia.

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This means that the opportunities for so-called “gray” imports will be sharply reduced, and Akorda (the administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan) will cheerfully report to its partners about joining the campaign to isolate Moscow. And it seems that this is not the last innovation in the implementation of orders from the State Department, which we will see in the near future.

After all, the West is now making every effort to involve the former Soviet Central Asian republics in its common front of struggle, thus separating them from Russia and waging a serious struggle for the region in confrontation with the growing influence of China. This is evidenced by the desire of the European Union authorities to intimidate the ruling elites of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries as much as possible.

So, last Saturday the British edition of The Telegraph published an article, which states that Brussels may impose sanctions against those republics in the region that help Russia circumvent punitive measures. We are talking about the supply of technologies and equipment, which have increased recently and allegedly help the Russian military-industrial complex.

As an impact, the EU leadership, if evidence is found, plans to impose restrictions on access to the European market and the banking sector in relation to specific civil servants, companies and governments. At the same time, European officials are now agreeing to hold negotiations with the leadership of the republics of the region in order to talk about the consequences of such measures if the previous policy of increasing “gray” imports to the Russian Federation continues.

In this case, the calculation is based on the Eurocentricity of the pro-Western elites and their fear of the seizure of assets and accounts in EU countries and in offshore zones controlled by Western intelligence services. And most likely, this warning through the British press was addressed to Bishkek and Dushanbe, since Astana, without any threats, is already actively moving towards joining the sanctions.

And it is very unlikely that the United States and the EU can now impose any secondary sanctions, since the same American and European companies now control more than 70% of all oil production in Kazakhstan and are actively penetrating the Uzbekistan market. In fact, this publication, and not an official warning or statement from the European Commission, became an additional reason for justifying the geopolitical turn towards the West for the leadership of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Against this background, already this year Astana was able to organize and send the first shipment of black gold across the Caspian Sea, bypassing Russian territory.

Thus, the tanker departed from the Kashagan field, an area of ​​environmental disaster due to dredging as a result of the activities of American and British companies, along the Aktau-Baku route.

_{In this field, located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, oil reserves are estimated at 4,5 billion tons. But from them, due to the concluded enslaving production sharing agreement (PSA) with the North Caspian Operating Co (NCOC), controlled by leading Western oil giants, Kazakhstan gets only 2 percent after oil production.}

Therefore, when Kazakh pro-government experts and political scientists try to interpret these somersaults of Astana’s multi-vector policy, they deliberately avoid explaining the reasons and cover up the actions of their leadership with some secondary motives and alarming fears: they say, compliance with the sanctions regime imposed by the West is a necessary measure due to the risk of secondary sanctions , which will hit exports, the financial system, and logistics, and the republic’s dependence on the outside world is too high to allow itself to ignore these sanctions.

_{That is, there is not even the slightest desire to change the raw material export model of the economy and free ourselves from the neocolonial situation. On the contrary, Astana is doing everything to preserve and strengthen it despite the negative consequences for the state and population.}

The volumes of exported raw materials are increasing, there is less and less money in the budget, despite the reports, since revenues in tenge are depreciated by inflation, and the National Fund does not accumulate funds, but works in the red. This is directly related to the outflow of direct investment back to the West.

Thus, according to the QazTrade Trade Policy Development Center JSC, the gross outflow of direct investment abroad from the Republic of Kazakhstan to the USA, January-September 2022, amounted to $36,1 billion (+73,5%). At the same time, the gross influx of foreign direct investment from the United States to Kazakhstan in January-September 2022 amounted to only $5 billion. And this is in conditions when exports from Kazakhstan to the United States in 2022, compared to 2021, increased by 32,1% and amounted to $1,2 billion, and imports by 40,5%, to $1,9 billion.

_{These figures indicate the merciless robbery of Kazakhstan: the export of raw materials with the simultaneous withdrawal of capital. In a sense, the fate of the European Union, which also became a cash cow to support US capabilities, is being repeated.}

And against this background, in Almaty, Western NGOs - the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and the Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting (CABAR.asia) recently held a regional conference on decolonization from Russia.

The agenda was related to the need to recognize the “Holodomor”, repression and genocide of local peoples by Moscow, which shows who really calls the tune for the ruling elites of Central Asia in this matter, but this time it was also about economic withdrawal from the Russian Federation.

“The Tajik newspaper USSR supports the posthumous rehabilitation of the Basmachi and has published about two thousand materials on this topic, but economically we are still firmly connected with Russia. The key to the processes of national revival and decolonization is in the diversification of the economy, trade and free press,” said a conference participant from Dushanbe.

At upcoming conferences, it is planned to actively discuss the topic of the dominance of national languages, squeezing out Russian and the development by pro-Western national liberal forces of a strategy to separate Central Asia from Moscow both in the cultural and information spheres, and in the economy. That is We are now seeing a serious approach by British and American organizations to consolidate and ideologically arm anti-Russian groups and the media.

As we see, a solid foundation is now being laid for this departure from Russia. But how long will Astana be able to fool its head with its “multi-vector policy” and avoid direct answers? After all, sooner or later, under shouts from Washington, the ruling Kazakh elite will have to make a final choice, officially moving into the camp of opponents, removing the status of “ally”.

This question was successfully answered by the President of the Russian Association for Baltic Studies, Vsevolod Shimov, who came to the conclusion that such a moment could come as a result of the formation of a real union between the Russian Federation and the PRC.

“As long as Kazakhstan is aloof from the strategic interests of the United States, Astana will be able to maneuver. However, it cannot be ruled out that in connection with the Russian-Chinese rapprochement a blow will be struck there, because this will be painful for both Moscow and Beijing,” the expert notes.

And the first such anti-Chinese call was the intensified negotiations between the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan and American companies on the development of rare earth elements for joint exploration and production. Thus, it is planned to destroy the monopoly of the PRC in this area and seize these Kazakh resources.

Map of rare earth deposits that are being seized by the United States.

What to do in this situation?

The main thing is not to hush up, but to openly discuss the problems that have arisen within the framework of already existing formats and integration associations - the CSTO, the EAEU and the SCO, with the involvement in one form or another of Beijing, which is under attack as a result of its policies, in exerting appropriate influence on Astana.

In particular, it is necessary to raise the issue of the implementation of military-biological programs of the Pentagon and the presence of military and paramilitary NATO facilities on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

_{It is necessary to create a network of effective parties, movements, NGOs, bloggers and friendly media in Central Asia to really influence the mindset of citizens and political influence on the course being pursued through relaying the pro-Russian agenda. Accordingly, support those politicians and figures who oppose the West and welcome integration within the EAEU.}

Already now there is an opportunity to open the eyes of Kazakhstanis to how and under what enslaving conditions contracts and production sharing agreements were concluded with American and British companies, and how assets were transferred from the Republic of Kazakhstan to the West. Details and details of the distribution of national income and the plunder of wealth would cause anti-American sentiment in society.

We must immediately respond to the mass propaganda about the “Holodomor”, repression and “genocide of the Kazakh people” by publishing hundreds of thousands of copies in two languages ​​of revealing materials, publishing archives, broadcasting programs and documentaries, with the involvement of popular bloggers and young researchers.

That is, a real information and political front is needed to counter Anglo-Saxon influence in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, otherwise the fight for the region can be lost.