The Week in Kazakhstan: Turn Back Time

Deputies mull “foreign agents” law, Transparency says corruption is a threat for the country

VAT in Kazakhstan will be set at 16%, according to the latest government proposal from February 10. The ministry of economy said that certain goods will carry a 10% or a 0% VAT rate. Once the new tax reform comes into force next year, the country will have to bear an additional 2-3% increase in prices, “a short term inflationary effect,” the ministry said.

Askhat Akhmediyarov, a renowned artist, was detained on February 8 after a public performance in Almaty. Akhmediyarov drove along a busy street on an electric scooter while displaying a yellow flag with a red sun and the Kazakh word for “When?” (Qaida). He said he wanted to protest the decision to unify Kazakhstan’s two time zones last year. He was taken to a local police station for a traffic violation and freed after a few hours.

Lukbek Tumashinov, an MP, came out in favor of re-establishing two time zones during a roundtable on February 14. Tumashinov said that the majority of his colleagues in Parliament “agree that [unifying time zones] was the wrong decision,” but the government “is resisting.”

The “grain war” between Kazakhstan and Russia continues. On February 11, Kazakhstan’s ministry of agriculture said that Russia had lifted all restrictions on agricultural imports from Kazakhstan, after months of mutual accusations. “I went to Moscow [in January] specifically for this issue,” minister Aidarbek Saparov said. On February 13, however, Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s agriculture watchdog, said the import of wheat, lentils, and oilseeds from Kazakhstan was again temporarily banned.

Corruption watchdog Transparency International published its annual report on February 11, and Kazakhstan is still listed as a corrupt country. “Corruption remains a key threat to Kazakhstan’s development. Without free media, a strong civil society, and accountable authorities, we will not be able to change the situation,” Murat Daniyar, Transparency’s country representative, said.

Irina Smirnova, an MP for the People’s Party, said on February 12 that Kazakhstan “needs to protect its national interests from the activities of organizations like USAID.” She proposed to pass a law “on foreign agents” to protect Kazakhstan’s sovereignty. Smirnova also criticized foreign-funded media for showing “only criticism and negative [news].”

Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev met with a number of businessmen on February 8 and said the government will use National Fund cash to support the budget, because “why else did we create the Fund?”. Tokayev also announced the creation of a “guaranteed fund”, backed by the country’s Single Pension Fund.

Also on February 8, Tokayev spoke at a forum of the pro-government youth movement Zhana Adamdar (from Kazakh, ‘New People’). The president’s press service reported that Tokayev focused on patriotism and the rule of law. “We need to appreciate what we have,” Tokayev told the crowd. Self-described as a grassroots movement, Zhana Adamdar is in fact an organization that mobilizes youth to endorse government policies.

As rumored last week, Vyacheslav Kim, one of Kazakhstan’s richest men, announced on February 13 his intention to buy a controlling stake in Jusan Bank, the sixth-largest lender in the country. Kim owns 20.4% in Kaspi.kz, the group that owns the fintech bank Kaspi. Previously known as Tsesnabank, Jusan was taken over in 2020 by an obscure fund, Pioneer Capital Invest, linked to former President Nursultan Nazarbayev and a network of foundations. [Read more here.]

Nurali Aliyev, Nazarbayev’s grandson, said he sold his stake in Transtelecom and left the telecoms operator’s board in an Instagram post on February 12. The announcement came the day after the company paid dividends for 2023. The new board is composed of three new members, all representatives of Jusan Mobile, the telecoms operator owned by the Jusan group.

Bulat Akchulakov, a former energy minister, was dismissed from his post of adviser to the president and replaced on February 13 by former Kazmunaigas head Magzum Mirzagaliyev. The following day, Tamara Duisenova was appointed adviser to the president and dismissed from her post of deputy Prime Minister. She was replaced by Yermek Kosherbayev, governor of the East Kazakhstan Region.

A criminal court in the northern region of Akmola acquitted 12 prison guards accused of torturing 44 prisoners. Timur Danebayev, one of the prisoners that filed the complaint of torture, was detained in 2023 after demanding that Tokayev be held accountable for his statements about the “20,000 terrorists” that allegedly stormed Kazakhstan in January 2022. The protests were, in fact, driven by public discontent, and were repressed violently in what became known as Qandy Qantar (Kazakh for ‘Bloody January’).

Gulzada Serzhan and Zhanar Sekerbayeva, the co-founders of the feminist group Feminita, were detained on February 13 during a “human rights school” they had organized in Almaty. The police raided the event after receiving a call by Bagila Baltabayeva, the head of Kazakhstan Union of Parents. Serzhan and Sekerbayeva were later released. On February 14, during the second day of the event, members of the Public Fund Rahym raided the premises, shouting “Foreign agents go away!”.

Власть — это независимое медиа в Казахстане.

Поддержите журналистику, которой доверяют.

Мы верим, что справедливое общество невозможно построить без независимой журналистики и достоверной информации. Наша редакция работает над тем чтобы правда была доступна для наших читателей на фоне большой волны фейков, манипуляций и пропаганды. Поддержите Власть.

Поддержать Власть