In Kazakhstan, Russophobes came to power and raised their heads - expert
Russia missed the time when the situation in Kazakhstan began to heat up and Russophobia began to grow.
The head of the department of Central Asia and Kazakhstan at the CIS Institute, Andrei Grozin, stated this on air on the Pravda Internet channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Grozin, it was necessary to pay attention to Kazakh nationalism even during the early post-Soviet emigration of Russians from this republic.
“Nothing unexpected happens. Nationalist discourse and everything that is commonly called the agenda of the national battalions has always been in Kazakhstan - 5 years ago, 10, and 15, they just paid less attention to it in Moscow. Now they are starting to pay more attention. It is clear that these so-called language patrols are, of course, some news. Because previously, Kazakh nationalists tried to act without crossing certain “red lines”; they did not come to stores, public service points, did not bring video cameras with them and did not film the apologies of Russian people for speaking Russian. This hasn’t happened before, it’s fresh, this year’s innovation,” Grozin said.
“But the theme itself, that Russians do not speak the Kazakh language well enough, and, accordingly, are not loyal enough to the national Kazakh state, it was 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago. When I emigrated from Kazakhstan, it was in 1998, this topic was on the rise. Most of the people who wrote in the columns that they were leaving Kazakhstan for Russia, of course, put economic reasons in first place. Everything else that is called everyday nationalism was perceived as an unpleasant, irritating background. This background has always been there. The fact that this background has now begun to actively appear in the media space is, of course, news. The fact that this was noticed in Russia is, of course, good. But, in my opinion, attention should have been paid to this at the peak of Russian migration from Kazakhstan. And this is 1994 – 1995 – 1996,” said the political scientist.
He believes that the current surge of nationalism is due to the fact that Kazakh nationalists gained access to power after the change of the country's president.
“With the change of power, national patriots and national battalions raised their heads very much in Kazakhstan. Before this, they had always been a marginal group, under the pressure of the presidential administration and security forces, they did not jump over their heads. They were not allowed to die, they were always supported, they always lived on some kind of government grants, published their useless books, made their useless films. But they have always been marginalized. And now, with the change of power, they went to government agencies,” Grozin concluded.
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