President Tokayev Addresses New Kazakhstan Reforms, Investigation into January Unrest, Relations with Russia, Impact of Western Sanctions among Other Issues in New TV Interview

Nur-Sultan, 15 June 2022 – President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev gave today a wide-ranging interview to the Russia 24 TV channel, in which he covered Kazakhstan’s current affairs and its international relations. He discussed the prospects for further political and economic reforms in the country, the status of the Russian and Kazakh languages, relations between Russia, Kazakhstan and the West, economic sanctions, and the future of institutions such as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

Below are some of the most relevant quotes from this interview:

Political reforms. President Tokayev noted that the formula that had been applied for many years in Kazakhstan – “economy first, politics second” – has exhausted itself. Kazakhstan is in the midst of a major political transformation, having held a referendum on large-scale reform of the Constitution. “We need to continue our political transformation, because it is a very big demand from the society,” the President believes.

The country has begun a transition from a super-presidential system to one with “a strong President, influential Parliament, and accountable Government.

According to Tokayev, “Kazakhstan must completely abandon “oligopoly,” the oligarchic system, whether in the economy or in politics. We must move away from favouritism in the distribution of the so-called “juicy morsels” in the economy. There should be social justice in Kazakhstan with “social lifts” that must start working,” he stressed.

Stolen assets recovery. According to the President, the state has established an interdepartmental commission on stolen assets recovery. “Colossal assets were siphoned abroad and should be returned to the people of Kazakhstan. I understand this cannot be done within a day or two. It may take years, but this work must be done,” Tokayev said. At the same time, “everything that has been done legally – if for example large and medium-sized companies are working in full compliance with our laws – of course, no expropriation whatsoever should be allowed to happen.”

Foreign investments. According to the President, in the early 1990s Kazakhstan was a “terra incognita” for foreign investors: “The first to come to our market were the Americans, the Chevron company. In partnership with the state, the company privatized the largest oil field in the west of our country. Oilmen call it the “diamond in Kazakhstan’s crown”. One should note the Americans work quite successfully. The terms of that contract were signed according to the standards of investment agreements at that time. To change the rules of the game now would of course be abnormal, maybe even absurd from the standpoint of Kazakhstan’s long-term interests. At the same time, a correction should certainly take place, and that is what we are carefully working on.”

January Unrest. President Tokayev described the tragic events in January as “an attempted coup d’état, an attack on the state institutions of Kazakhstan, as well as an attempt to remove the head of state from his position. According to him, “the entire situation was being masterminded by experienced professionals.” “During these tragic events, about 3,000 firearms were stolen” and “an interagency investigation team is now working hard to uncover all the details.” Though he had no plans to leave, some “comrades” had personally advised “to get on a helicopter or a plane and leave Kazakhstan.” “I believed I should stay till the end with my people,” Tokayev stressed.

The President cautioned that “the events that took place in Almaty should not be oversimplified.” and that It is wrong “to turn into national heroes those who were engaged in murder, robbery and actually challenged the foundations of our state.” In many cases the state had shown mercy and released detainees. “Currently, only 26 people have received sentences with actual imprisonment.  All other cases are under investigation. The unprecedented scale of the tragedy makes it quite difficult to deal with it in a short time.”

The President stressed that all accusations of unlawful methods of investigation are carefully and fairly scrutinized, confirming that “those police officers who broke our law have been held criminally responsible.”

Eurasian Economic Union and Collective Security Treaty Organization. According to Tokayev, any rumours that Kazakhstan “grew cold” and is going to leave the EEU and the CSTO are unfounded. Referring to the CSTO deployment of a 2,000 strong contingent in early January, the President said “some twist the whole situation, saying that Russia allegedly “saved” Kazakhstan, and now Kazakhstan should “serve and bow at its feet. I believe that this is completely unjustified reasoning, far from reality. We agreed at the outset that the CSTO force would not engage in combat actions. Not a single shot was fired by the limited CSTO contingent, and they were in Kazakhstan for no more than ten days. It was a demonstration of our regional unity in that very difficult situation,” Tokayev said.

Western sanctions against Russia. President Tokayev emphasized that “sanctions are sanctions,” and Kazakhstan does not intend to violate them. “We have been clearly notified that in case of violation of sanctions, so-called “secondary sanctions” by the West against our own economy would follow. That leaves us in a very delicate situation of passing “between Scylla and Charybdis,” said the President of Kazakhstan.

Status of the Russian language. President Tokayev confirmed that there is an increasing demand for Kazakh language in the country but “those who claim that Russian language is in decline are false. Their intent is pretty much clear – they want to politicize the situations.” Those speculations “are from the Evil one and I am aware of the motives behind the attempts. It was a topic for various discussions.” Tokayev concluded, “We have the longest border in the world with Russia. We are, “God-given neighbours,” and Kazakhs should to know the Russian language well, but also speak their own language.”