Kazakhstan is the second Ukraine waiting for Russia

There is a Russian minority living in Kazakhstan, which gives Moscow a strong excuse to intervene in order to prevent any change that affects its strategic interests.

The ability to turn crises into opportunities

Nur-Sultan - With protests continuing in Kazakhstan, Russia sent its forces to help stabilize the ally regime there, in a scene that suggests that Kazakhstan will be a second Ukraine waiting for Russia in light of Western countries' efforts to stir crises in the Russian backyard, and Moscow adheres to defending its interests and demonstrating its ability to Turn crises into opportunities to assert their strength.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev asked Russia to send forces belonging to a security alliance of former Soviet republics led by Moscow, which said it would consult with its allies on additional measures to support an "anti-terror operation" carried out by the authorities in Kazakhstan, describing the uprising as an attempt from abroad to undermine the country's security by force.

The secretariat of the Collective Security Treaty Organization said Thursday that advanced units of Russian peacekeeping forces have been deployed in Kazakhstan, adding that they have already begun to carry out the tasks assigned to them.

It stated that the forces include units from Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. It did not disclose its size.

The rapid Russian intervention to protect the allied regime in Kazakhstan is a message to the West that the Russian leadership is capable of managing the battle on more than one front.

Observers said that the rapid Russian intervention to protect the allied regime in Kazakhstan is a message to the West, which is moving on more than one front to confuse Moscow, that the Russian leadership is able to manage the battle on more than one front, and that its intense focus on Ukraine will not allow any efforts to sabotage the stability of other allied republics. and defending what Moscow calls the Russian world.

Although Kazakhstan shares a border of 6,846 kilometers with Russia - the second longest border in the world, which makes it a burden on Russia and may lead to the dispersal of its efforts; Because the vast expanse and borders without beginning or end need a large army and a force of rapid action - Russian officials are trying to compensate with advanced weaponry techniques, intimidation and flexibility in transporting equipment depending on an efficient rail network, where in a short time it is possible to move troops from the far west to the far east.

On Wednesday, Moscow called for resolving the crisis through dialogue "and not through riots in the streets and violations of laws," at a time when observers consider that direct intervention reflects the importance Russia attaches to Kazakhstan.

Seven years ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the strategic importance of Kazakhstan to his country when a student asked him at a press conference nine months after the annexation of Crimea whether Kazakhstan faced a similar fate as Ukraine.

Putin said that Russia had urbanized the nomadic plains of Central Asia, until Nazarbayev (the head of the Kazakh Communist Party in the Soviet era) came and “did something unique: He created a state on a land where there was no state at all.” The Kazakh did not have a state, and it was created by him.”

Putin went on to say that Kazakhstan's membership in the five-nation Eurasian Economic Union, which was in the Soviet Union, "helps it to remain within the so-called 'greater Russian world', which is part of global civilization."

By invoking the concept of the Russian world, which views states not as spaces defined by borders but through cultural and economic influence, Putin clarified his view of Russia as a civilized state rather than a nation-state with clear borders, which means that it will not be satisfied with its current borders, and that it may seek To restore its old borders in the era of the Soviet Union.

It is noteworthy that Kazakhstan has a Russian minority, representing 20% ​​of the population, who carry sympathy for the motherland in their hearts, which gives a strong justification for Moscow to intervene to prevent any change in Kazakhstan that affects its strategic interests.

Searching for a security alliance

The Kazakh president's promises have so far failed to reduce the flare up of the protests, despite his concessions in terms of gas prices, dismissing the government, declaring a state of emergency and imposing a curfew.

On Thursday, the Kazakh president took a series of emergency measures aimed at "ensuring the stability of the work of public services, transport and infrastructure", strengthening the readiness of the security forces and resuming the work of banks. And banning the export of some types of food products in order to stabilize prices.

Tokayev confirmed Wednesday that "terrorist gangs have received intensive training abroad" and are leading the demonstrations.

"Groups of criminal elements are beating and humiliating our soldiers, dragging them naked in the streets, attacking women and looting shops," he said in a televised speech on Wednesday.

In media footage and social networks, scenes of chaos emerged from looting of shops, storming and burning some administrative buildings in the economic capital Almaty, while machine gunfire was heard.

The demonstrators are especially angry with former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 81, who ruled the country from 1989 to 2019 and still retains great influence. He is considered the patron of the current President Tokayev.