Many Kazakhs worry about Moscow's annexation of Crimea and what it means for their own country's relations with Russia. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea have alarmed the ranks of the marginalized opposition of Kazakhstan, along with local experts who see Moscow's integration projects as a threat to Kazakhstan's independence.
Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation. Kazakhstan's nervous regime is becoming more and more repressive. President Nursultan Nazarbayev is on the point of signing draconian amendments to the communications law that were passed by parliament on 2 April. If he goes ahead, the authorities will not only be able to block any website or social network in a matter of hours without a court order, but also to disconnect all means of communication.
Authorities of Austria and Malta must order a thorough investigation of the crimes which Rakhat Aliyev is alleged to have committed when he was in charge of the secret police under his former father-in-law, Kazakh President Nazarbayev.
Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive former Kazakh banker and political activist, has won his appeal against a decision by a French court to extradite him to Russia. France's Court of Cassation on Wednesday upheld Mr Ablyazov's appeal against the ruling reached by a court in Aix-en-Provence in January and ordered the case to be heard again, assigning it to a court in Lyon. A defence lawyer said it was a "significant victory" for Mr Ablyazov.Mr Ablyazov, former chairman and major shareholder of Kazakhstan's BTA Bank, was arrested in France last July after spending more than a year in hiding while being pursued by the bank and the government of Kazakhstan for fraud allegedly amounting to more than $6bn. Authorities in Russia anlyond Ukraine both sought to extradite Mr Ablyazov from France to face charges of fraud related to BTA Bank, which was nationalised by Kazakhstan in 2009.
France's top appeals court on Wednesday overturned a decision to extradite a former Kazakh banker whose dual roles as opposition leader and fugitive from justice led to legal cases in four countries. Mukhtar Ablyazov, a former Kazakh energy minister and onetime chairman of BTA Bank, has been jailed since police special forces seized him at a home on the French Riviera last summer.
With no evidence that Russia has any plans to withdraw its troops from the border of Ukraine, some former Soviet states are worried about their own regional security. Farther east, other countries, closely aligned with Moscow rather than the West, say they are trying to ease tensions. And several central Asian states have responded by simply staying silent.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's eldest daughter Dariga will lead her father's party faction in parliament and become the legislature's deputy speaker, marking her comeback from the political sidelines. Dariga Nazarbayeva, 50, received the promotions after serving as the head of the social and cultural development committee in the Majlis, the nation's lower house of parliament, the ruling Nur Otan party said on its website today.
A reshuffle in Kazakhstan has brought a veteran insider back to lead the government amid fears of trouble on the domestic and international fronts. President Nursultan Nazarbayev reappointed former Prime Minister Karim Masimov late on April 2. In a swift sequence of events, Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov resigned, Nazarbayev nominated Masimov, and Kazakhstan's rubber-stamp parliament unanimously approved the move.
The United States will "fundamentally stand" with post-Soviet Central Asian nations to protect their territorial integrity and independence, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, sending a signal to Russia after its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Russia's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula two weeks ago sent jitters across Central Asia, whose mainly autocratic rulers tacitly accepted Moscow's actions, fearing their former overlord may use a similar tactic in their states.
Should EU and US sanctions hit Russian energy exports, Kazakhstan will suffer collateral damage via their participation in a regional oil pipeline consortium, according to Oil & Energy Insider. What might Putin's actions in Crimea mean for Kazakhstan, where foreign investors since 2005 have poured more than $170 billion in FDI into the country, primarily in the energy sector? In 2013 Kazakhstan's oil production surged to roughly 1.64 million barrels per day. Kazakhstan has three percent of the world's raw materials, with nearly 40 billion barrels of oil reserves and two percent of global production.
