Ambassador of Kazakhstan – RBC: There is no estrangement from Russia

In Alma-Ata, as the ambassador notes, everything also began with peaceful protests. “In Alma-Ata they were both peaceful Protestants, and there were also people who are simply classified as certain people who are unemployed or without a permanent place of work,” he described the rally participants. “Now many are arguing over the number of these people, there were 20 thousand there, it doesn’t matter how many people there were, but the point is that what kind of chaos did happen. The assault that was carried out, just like that, peaceful demonstrators would not go for it. That is, I am more than sure, housewives or people of some age, well, why should they go to smash, destroy, rob, break windows, set fire to something, beat. Naturally, no one will do this. There were people who were simply led to such a case. Mostly it was part of the youth. I don’t want to say that all these young people were directly opposed to something. Many of them just got involved,” the ambassador believes.

“The past tragic events, once again, as I say, confirmed the value of the CSTO as a military-political structure. The organization is now being talked about in the international community, its effectiveness has manifested itself quite clearly in this situation, ”said the effectiveness of attracting the organization’s collective peacekeeping forces, Ambassador Kosherbaev.

On January 6, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made a request to send CSTO peacekeepers. The decision was agreed upon by the leaders of all countries of the military union (Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan). The peacekeepers have secured strategic facilities, primarily in Alma-Ata. January 11 Tokayev informedthat the situation had normalized and could begin the withdrawal of the CSTO forces, on January 13, the organization announced the completion of the operation and the beginning of the withdrawal of the military.

“The organization has received a useful positive experience. In fact, the events that took place became a turning point in the development of the organization, which acquired a new quality as a strong international institution. And now, it seems to me, it is more important to talk not about greater integration of Kazakhstan and Russia, we are already integrated into the CSTO, but about further progressive improvement and raising the status of our organization in the international arena,” the Ambassador of Kazakhstan said in an interview.

The ambassador is convinced that after the January events the speed of changes in Kazakhstan will increase. “It has already grown. That is, today in society there is such excitement, discussion, every day, I’m not afraid to say this, every day we wake up and wait, and what will be new today, and what will be discussed today, what will we talk about today, what will we do tomorrow ”, he said.

“This public opinion is now to some extent, not to some extent, but, probably, to the main extent of its own, it is a trigger for many decisions that take place, are made by the authorities. This is an important point,” the ambassador said.

“I believe that one of the key tasks today is the need to prevent the risks of further marginalization of young people and their involvement in destructive trends. We emphasize once again that the youth has become a tool and a driving force in the hands of the organizers of these tragic events,” I am sure Kosherbaev.

“Presidents of Kazakhstan, the first president (Nursultan Nazarbayev – RBC) and President Kassym-JomartTokayev repeatedly emphasizedthat for Kazakhstanis, Russia has been and remains the closest state. Trust and relationships between our peoples have evolved over the centuries. And we went through different periods, were both part of one state, and lived separately. But they always stayed together,” said Ambassador of Kazakhstan Kosherbaev.

According to him, it is impossible to build peace and prosperity in one single country, there must be a good environment around this country. “We must have good relations with all our neighbors, as well as Russia. The leaders of our states are in constant contact,” the ambassador recalled. President Tokayev is among the top five with whom Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke the most times last year. “For 30 years, Kazakhstan and Russia have built a stable model of relations. We have a confidential dialogue at all levels,” the ambassador said.

Economic cooperation is also developing. At the end of last year, mutual trade increased and reached $24 billion. highest score throughout history.

“There is no separation of Kazakhstan or Russia from Kazakhstan. For three decades we have been living in different states, and it is clear that certain priorities are slightly different for us. But, nevertheless, the basis is the preservation of good neighborly correct relations, cooperation in all spheres of life. These are invariably good relations with each other,” the ambassador said.

“They say that talks about the alleged infringement of the Russian language in Kazakhstan have intensified recently in Russia, I want to reiterate that we do not have a problem with the Russian language. He speaks Russian, I don’t want to say that he speaks, but almost the entire population of our country speaks. Our problem mostly concerns our native Kazakh language,” the ambassador said.

According to him, the expansion of the scope of the Kazakh language is by no means due to a decrease in the use of the Russian language. “The Russian language, as it is, remains the same, and this is written in the constitution, the language of interethnic communication,” the diplomat recalled. “We are not talking about de-Russification. We are only fighting for the qualitative and correct use of the state Kazakh language. We are fighting for a respectful attitude towards him, that’s all, ”said the head of the diplomatic mission of Kazakhstan in Russia.

According to the Ministry of Science and Education of Kazakhstan, there are about 7,000 public schools in the country, of which about 3,700 are schools where instruction is in the Kazakh language, Russian is taught as a foreign language, the ambassador cited the data. At the same time, about 1,100 schools teach in Russian. The Kazakh language is taught in them as the state language, but it is taught separately. In more than two thousand schools, education is conducted in Kazakh and Russian. “If we proceed from the national composition of the population of our country, then I think that this is a good indicator,” the ambassador said.

In October 2017, the first President Nazarbayev signed a decree on the phased translation of the Kazakh alphabet into Latin script until 2025.