Who benefits from new protests in Kazakhstan: the US and Britain are satisfied with everything

Unlike the population

Kazakhstan is seething again. As in January 2022, it began with Zhanaozen, where about two thousand residents went to protest against the arrest of oil workers in Astana. More than a hundred oil workers from Zhanaozen protested in the capital of Kazakhstan against layoffs. The unauthorized rally was dispersed by the police, the organizers were arrested. Last year, everything began with a protest against rising fuel prices, and ended with riots that almost demolished power in the country.

Former employees of the BerAli Mangistau Company took part in the protest action in the capital of Kazakhstan. This company lost the tender for the performance of oilfield services for Ozenmunaigas JSC, a subsidiary of the national oil and gas company KazMunayGas (KMG), in connection with which the oil workers were laid off. The rally (more precisely, a sit-in protest) was held at the KMG office in Astana, the workers demanded employment in this company. Representatives of “KazMunayGas” began negotiations with the protesters, but their results did not satisfy the workers. According to the authorities, the rally was unsanctioned, so the police intervened. More precisely, SOBR, which detained all the participants of the action. After that, relatives of the arrested and just local residents gathered on the central square of Zhanaozen in the Mangistau region in the south-west of the country demanding the release of fellow countrymen.

Protests in Zhanaozen began on April 11 and continued into the night. On the morning of April 12, people took to the streets again and began blocking the roads. The police started mass arrests of protesters. Information appeared on the network that security forces in neighboring cities of the region are also preparing to suppress protests. In addition, according to sources in Kazakhstan, workers of dozens of enterprises are already on strike there. The oil workers employed in the oil fields in the Mangistau region demand the release of the detainees in Astana.

We asked for comments on these events. politician and diplomat Nikolai Platoshkin.

– In the next wave of protests of workers in Kazakhstan, you can, of course, look for the hand of Biden or the Martians. However, there is a Russian proverb: “There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked.” Platoshkin said. – The essence of all these protests is the same: the discontent of the workers, sorry for the Soviet clichés. Initially, the protests were about low wages, then about layoffs, then in connection with a sharp increase in fuel prices. Moreover, against the background of the fact that they were promised not to be raised. This is what angered people. But for capitalism, this is normal. At the same time, everything will continue like this. There will always be workers’ protests against their position. You can, of course, call these people foreign agents, but nothing will change from this. If the just demands of the people are not met now, then next time the protests will be larger. And the demands will no longer be economic, but political, the protests will be directed against the Kazakh authorities themselves. The working people of Kazakhstan have not yet fully understood that Soviet power has long since ceased to exist. In the USSR, it was extremely difficult and impossible to fire a person without the consent of the management of the trade union organization of the enterprise. Plus – there was a party committee where people could also apply. Layoffs were extremely rare, and 60% of those laid off were reinstated by court order. The state, the entire apparatus stood guard over the rights of the worker. And in capitalist Kazakhstan, the entire state apparatus stands guard over the interests of employers.

– Nevertheless, we have a fairly widespread opinion that Kazakhstan is being shaken by some “external forces” that want to alienate it from the Russian Federation, open a “second front” there or something else. Kazakhstan takes a dual position, trying to maneuver between the world centers of power. Maybe they really want to make problems for him?

Why “dual”? I am a diplomat and have worked in the civil service for many years. What is a “double position”? She is simple. Kazakhstan recognized Crimea as part of the Russian Federation? No. Moreover, he did not recognize as part of the Russian Federation the new territories included in its composition recently. Kazakhstan participates in US sanctions against Russia? Participates. This was stated by the President of Kazakhstan Tokayev. Then, in the presence of Putin at last year’s St. Petersburg forum, he told him directly to his face that he was not going to recognize anything – neither the DPR, nor the LPR. When voting at the UN General Assembly, when the West raised the issue of the so-called “aggression of the Russian Federation”, Kazakhstan never supported us. What is the “duality” here? That he hasn’t declared war on us yet? Only this is not enough. I would like to say to these talkers about the “second front”: don’t these people work in Zhanaozen at American enterprises? On the American ones, on the Chevron. The authorities of Kazakhstan gave them the oil reserves of the country, discovered by Soviet geologists. And the British do the gas. The authorities of Kazakhstan so far are doing everything that the Americans and their allies ask of them. Therefore, the current Kazakh government suits them completely. Recently, the US Secretary of State visited there, and President Tokayev said at a meeting with him: “Thank you to the United States for protecting the sovereignty of Kazakhstan.” He did not thank the Russian Federation for what she did last January, but the USA. It turns out that the US is protecting their sovereignty. Question: from whom?

– All this is said publicly. But many argue that Kazakhstan is helping the Russian Federation behind the scenes – parallel imports, all that …

– They used to say: and I help to eat meatballs at home. It is clear that Kazakhstan is now actively profiting from us. But when it comes to things that are really important to us, they strictly adhere to American prohibitions. And the fact that they are rowing everything that we cannot sell somewhere else or are engaged in the transfer of funds under foreign trade contracts – this is how they profit from it. And our consumers suffer from this, who are forced to buy goods through parallel imports with a large margin. which sometimes reaches 30% – precisely because of these intermediary efforts of Kazakhstan.