Moving to Kazakhstan as a Russian will be complicated from today. The country is tightening the rules so that it won’t be easy for Russians to enter the country. ‘Kazakhstan is taking care of itself,’ explains Professor Hans van Koningsbrugge of the University of Groningen.
‘Before the invasion of Ukraine, there were problems in Kazakhstan. They were actually solved by Russian troops,” explains Van Koningsbrugge. However, the country is now choosing to tighten the rules so that it is not easy for Russians to enter the country. “The Kazakh government was not amused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they made it clear. The Kremlin itself is now also working on all kinds of travel restrictions, as Russia wants to continue and speed up the mobilisation. This means that all sorts of Russians could come to Kazakhstan, followed, for example, by the FSB. Do you want him as a neighbor?’
According to Van Koningsbrugge, Kazakhstan is “too big to be swallowed by Russia”. “At least that north.” We thought the same about Ukraine. “But the February 2022 Russian army is not the same as the January 2023 one,” she says.
Balancing act
The professor thinks that Kazakhstan is opting for “a kind of balance”. “They tell the West that they do not recognize the annexation of Luhansk and Donetsk, let alone the invasion. They don’t like it at all. But on the other hand, people are still wary of Russia.’
According to Van Koningsbrugge, there are no other neighboring countries with exactly the same situation. “There are also Russian minorities in the Baltic states, but that is NATO territory. And then a completely different story. There are also Russian minorities in Georgia, many Russians flee there. Georgia, of course, had its war in 2008. They’re remarkably quiet at the moment. So Kazakhstan and Ukraine are the main problems from the Kremlin’s point of view.’
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
