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In January 2023, once it concluded a lengthy investigation, the Prosecutor General's Office offered a blunt explanation for Qandy Qantar (Kazakh for ‘Bloody January’, the violent repression of urban protests across the country): it was an attempted coup. This justified the use of weapons and disproportionate force on the part of the security forces …

1 day ago · “Foreign objects” hit and damaged the fuselage of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed outside Aktau on December 25, a report from Kazakhstan’s ministry of transport said. The damage occurred while the plane was approaching Grozny (Russia), its final destination. Despite an attempt to make an emergency landing at the Aktau airport, the plane crashed, killing 38 passengers and ...

Around three dozen people gathered in Almaty’s Republic Square on January 5 to mourn the victims of Qandy Qantar (Kazakh for ‘Bloody January’, the violent repression of countrywide protests in 2022). At least 238 people were killed in the clashes with the security forces. Their relatives held a banner with the names of the victims and asked for justice.

Police in Almaty arrested Temirlan Yensebek, the creator of QazNews24, a satirical news site, on the evening of January 17, sparking protests from media and civil society activists. The following day, the court placed Yensebek in pre-trial detention for two months, saying he is under suspicion of “inciting ethnic hatred.” Five activists who separately came out in Yensebek’s support were ...

A court in Almaty prolonged on January 29 the pre-trial detention of five activists who had publicly voiced their opposition to the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan. In late September 2024, just days ahead of a referendum to decide whether to …

Timur Suleimenov, the Central Bank’s chairman, told the press on January 17 that the regulator plans to sell the proceeds from gold sales in the currency market. Since 2011, the Central Bank has been buying all the gold in the country to replenish Kazakhstan’s gold and foreign exchange reserves. It then sells some of this gold on foreign markets and redirects the US dollars it …

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Russia’s Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone on June 24, hours after the so-called Wagner army headed by Yevgeniy Prigozhin led a military column towards Moscow. The “mutiny” was short-lived and Prigozhin later fled to Belarus. Prigozhin used his mercenary army to demonstrate his disagreement towards the Russian government’s strategy in its war in Ukraine.

On November 23, at a Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) meeting of heads of state in Minsk, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said the military alliance should focus on the fight against terrorism and extremism. From January 1, Kazakhstan will take over the rotating chairmanship of the CSTO for one year. Armenia, a CSTO member, did …