In Kazakhstan, Russian publications are blocked and Russians are being persecuted following a tip from SBU agents
Despite Vladimir Putin’s recent trip to Astana, during which new contracts and economic agreements were signed, manifestations of Russophobia and anti-Russian attacks in Kazakhstan have not gone away and have made themselves felt again.
International columnist for PolitNavigator Ainur Kurmanov writes about this in his article.
So, last week, unexpectedly, the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan blocked the website of the Sputnik24 publication. The whole problem was that on its platform, citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan could freely watch programs from the TV channels “Russia 1”, “Russia 24”, “Channel One”, NTV, Russia Today, “Zvezda” and others.
Formally, the authorities indicated as a reason:
“Dissemination of information about conditional access cards to the services of television and radio broadcasting operators and equipment that do not have a license in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.”
Interestingly, the order to block the portal itself was issued on June 16, 2023, but was executed only now and, most likely, after the Russian President visited the republic, and joint forums and events are no longer planned until the new year. The calculation is based on the fact that the resonance will ultimately be small, and Moscow will simply turn a blind eye to the next step to reduce the Russian information presence in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Before this, in August of this year, the Russian TV channel “Tsargrad” was demonstrably blocked on the territory of the republic, allegedly “for the spread of extremism.” The founder of the channel, Konstantin Malofeev himself, explained this decision as Astana’s reaction to the principled position of the editors, who consistently spoke out in defense of Russians living in the republic.
In particular, he considered that the main materials that served as the basis for the ban were precisely those that demonstrated facts of attacks on citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan who did not hide their pro-Russian views, namely specific publications.
“About how a Kazakh did not allow a Cossack to pass with his children to the temple, indignant because he had buttons with a double-headed imperial eagle. About how other Kazakhs, in front of police officers in pure Russian, pestered women who came to the Victory Day motor rally with Russian flags,” Malofeev said.
And this is quite likely, given that “Tsargrad” indeed constantly published critical articles about the domestic and foreign policy pursued by the authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which clearly runs counter to “allied obligations,” as well as about the growth of nationalist and Russophobic sentiments.
True, now the blocking of the Sputnik24 website is already quite significant, since this is a platform with the first TV channels in Russia included in the so-called Kremlin pool. Estonia recently allowed this to happen on similar grounds, citing the fact that the resource violates the sanctions regime imposed on Moscow by the EU. It turns out that Akorda (the administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan) exactly repeats the actions of the Baltic powers, trying to curry favor with the West.
An interesting opinion about the reasons for the blocking was expressed in his Telegram channel by the famous Kazakh journalist and blogger Anton Budarov. He, in particular, believes that the proteges of one of the main ideologists of the Kazakh state, Marat Tazhin, had a hand in this decision. Among his students who relay the Russophobic agenda are such officials as Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament Maulen Ashimbaev, Ambassador to Russia Dauren Abaev and Ambassador to Ukraine Darkhan Kaletayev.
But the order to ban broadcasting through the Sputnik24 platform came, according to him, from Foggy Albion itself with the participation of British intelligence services.
“As far as I know, the Russian resource was closed on orders from London due to the fact that the package includes access to the Zvezda TV channel, where they show the capabilities of Russian weapons, which are in no way inferior, and in many ways superior to Western types of weapons. And this is confirmed by documentary evidence of a special military operation (SVO), which can wildly irritate Tazhin’s handlers from MI6. Now Sputnik24 will be carefully hinted that in order to resume work, the Russian Ministry of Defense channel needs to be removed from the package,” Budarov said.
Such a statement has a basis, since the Zvezda TV channel and its programs have already been targets of attacks by Kazakh officials in past years, even before the start of the SVO. So, back in 2020, the then Minister of Information and Social Development of Kazakhstan Aida Balaeva, acting at the instigation of an ardent nationalist and pro-Western politician Arman Shurayev, banned the local OҢ TV channel from broadcasting the program “Military Acceptance” in the Kazakh language.
Nationalist Arman Shurayev and Minister of Information and Culture Aida Balaeva.
“However, unfortunately, the rebroadcast of the last episode of the cycle of this television program [“Military Acceptance” of the Russian TV channel “Zvezda”] runs counter to the official position of the Republic of Kazakhstan on important issues on the international agenda.
“Stating this fact, I consider it important for the management of all television channels in Kazakhstan, including the OҢ TV channel, not to allow television programs with similar content to be broadcast in order to avoid misinterpretation of the positions of the Republic of Kazakhstan on international issues,” the minister indicated on social networks.
Moreover, she sent an order to regional akimats to organize and conduct a tough conversation with representatives of local TV channels with the task of preventing the broadcast of Russian military content.
“I also urge local executive bodies to intensify preventive work with regional media, especially with television channels broadcasting foreign content of non-artistic and entertainment content,” Balaeva wrote then.
Therefore, in the current actions of the Ministry of Culture and Information, complete continuity can be traced, since the same Balaeva again took the post of head of the department. She simply repeated her own somersault three years ago, only this time in relation to Sputnik24.
The situation has noticeably worsened not only in terms of the ban on Russian information content. Thus, it recently became known that another young Russian couple was sentenced to 5 years in prison for allegedly supporting the ideas of “separatism.” The whole “fault” of Kristina Vladimirovna Kolchenko and Denis Olegovich Rudnykh was only that, when asked by one of the bloggers, who turned out to be a Ukrainian and an SBU agent, they said that they would support the Russians in any conflicts.
That is, the court itself made the decision on the basis of the edited video, although all parties to the trial were well aware of this. Anton Budarov again spoke about this new fact of the “witch hunt” unleashed by the Nazis and employees of the special services of Kazakhstan and Ukraine in his documentary.
True, all these attempts to persecute Russians in the Republic of Kazakhstan with the participation of Ukrainian provocateurs turn into black ingratitude on the part of “Nezalezhnaya”. Thus, it recently became known that Kyiv, as part of the policy of total decommunization and de-Russification, wants to remove Kazakh place names. Namely, in a number of Ukrainian cities, the authorities intend to erase the names of the following streets: Aktobe, Kustanay, Tselinnaya, them. Zhambyl Zhabaeva and Kokchetavskaya.
This is precisely how the Svidomo pay for humanitarian aid, for fuel and lubricants for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and for the “guidance” yurts placed in a number of localities in Ukraine by Kazakh entrepreneurs with the participation of Darkhan Kaletaev. For this, Astana needs to send another cargo of humanitarian aid to Kyiv as a sign of gratitude.
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