International Analysis: Is Kazakhstan Russia's Next Ukraine?
(Moscow): While Russia is mobilizing troops along the Ukrainian border, it is not just the people of Ukraine who are worried about what Vladimir Putin is thinking or wanting for sure from them. That is, even the people of Kazakhstan, once the territory of the former Soviet Union, are equally concerned.
According to Western analysts, the people of Kazakhstan are not immediately concerned about Russian military action. But what worries them is the rhetoric of Russian nationalists, including Kremlin strongman Putin. In recent years, Putin has repeatedly emphasized the "world of Russia", which he sees as referring to Russian-speaking countries.
For example, in his recent Global Year speech, Putin indirectly reminded that Kazakhstan is a Russian-speaking country and that such remarks were in response to some activists in Kazakhstan who have been Advocate for the use of Kazakhstan as the primary language instead of Russian.
Kazakhstan has 6,846 km of land border with Russia, the second longest border in the world. Kazakhstan has a Russian population, which is considered a minority, representing 20 percent of Kazakhstan's population. Of course, it is not just Kazakhstan that is considered by Russian nationalists to be Russian territory, they consider the whole of Central Asia as its sphere of influence.
An unofficial poll in the Russian-populated city of Ridder, which borders Russia, shows that most of the people in these cities are inclined to support and want to be part of Russian territory, which is why There are fears that Kazakhstan could have the same fate as Ukraine's Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 through a referendum, which Western countries call a violation of international law. Putin himself even claimed that Kazakhstan was not a state and that the people of Kazakhstan had never had a state of their own.
However, Western analysts believe that Russia knows better than anyone that it will not be easy to force or coerce the people of Kazakhstan, once a former Soviet Union. As a Russian citizen, as you would like. But all Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, could not escape Russian influence, and Moscow itself would not allow any country to seize its influence in the region.
Source: eurasiareview (Thursday, January 06, 2022)
