It is a revolt that took everyone by surprise in this country where for thirty years no head has protruded, where power has always stifled social protest. Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy long accustomed to double-digit growth rates, is now suffering from falling oil prices and the economic crisis in Russia, which has led to the devaluation of the local currency and high inflation.
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In a very unequal country, an extremely rich minority rub shoulders with the poverty of the majority of the population. The first demands were therefore economic – the price of liquefied natural gas, used as fuel – was doubled on January 1. But very quickly, they became political. Protesters are now calling for the fall of the regime.
#Kazakhstan : the satellite countries of Russia are in the process of emancipating themselves. The Putin regime feels more and more threatened, it is losing control. The revolt of these peoples is impressive. People want change. pic.twitter.com/6LqvfIpkMq
– Andrei VAITOVICH (@andreivaitovich) January 5, 2022
In the economic capital, Almaty, their anger turned against government buildings, they set fire to national television, attacked barracks for weapons, devastated the airport. Several neighboring countries have suspended their flights. On social networks, many videos show exchanges of fire. According to the police, the dead are already numbered in the tens.
President Kassim-Jomart Tokaiev first returned to the increase in gas and then sacked the government. It was not enough. He installed a state of emergency with a curfew, cut the internet, sent the armored vehicles. He even agreed, as the protesters demanded, to remove from power a tutelary figure, former President Nursultan Nazerbayev, 81, at the head of state for 28 years, until 2019, who actually continued to pull the strings through his post as President of the National Security Council. It was not enough.
Then Kassim Tokaiev released his last trump card on Wednesday January 5th. In a televised intervention, he asserts that “terrorist gangs trained abroad” lead the demonstrations. Against this “aggression” he calls for help Moscow and its allies who promise, as part of their regional organization, the rapid dispatch of a peacekeeping force.
The 1st Russian soldiers arrived in Kazakhstan. They are deploying now. pic.twitter.com/7xrH0LqYCz
– Restitutor Orientis (@RestitutorOrien) January 6, 2022
The former Soviet republic, which is five times the size of France, has exceptional natural resources. Kazakhstan produces a third of the uranium in the world. He exports his gas, a lot of gas. And on the Caspian Sea has oil deposits, which represent roughly 3% of world reserves.
It remains closely linked to its former tutelary power, the Russians also represent nearly 20% of the population. Moscow has no interest in letting chaos set in, especially since the whole region risks being destabilized.