To soften Putin’s discontent, Kazakhstan’s ambassador in Moscow has published an article in an influential Russian newspaper in which he defends the transformations that are taking place in the country. He hopes that “the ongoing deglobalization” will not lead to “new opposing blocs.”
Astana () – In a delicate phase of relations between Russia and Kazakhstan, highlighted by the unexpected visit of former president Nursultan Nazarbaev to Moscow, where he met with Vladimir Putin, there is no shortage of comments that attribute to the Kremlin a certain resentment towards the president in office in Astana, Kasym-Žomart Tokaev. Proof of this would also be Putin’s lack of congratulations on Kazakhstan’s Independence Day, which was celebrated on December 16.
In an attempt to return the vision of these relations to a more serene and balanced dimension, the Kazakh ambassador in Moscow, Dauren Abaev, published an article in the authoritative Russian newspaper Nezavisimaja Gazeta, entitled “Tokaev’s five senses of justice.” In it he highlights “the great interest that our country arouses throughout Russia” on the part of politicians, but also representatives of commerce, culture and art, and in many regions “both from the European and Asian parts” of the Federation.
Abaev says that “talking to Russians, they often point out to me that the dynamics of change in Kazakhstan are so intense that it is not easy to fully understand them.” It confirms that the course taken to “build a just Kazakhstan” has shaken many situations that had been crystallizing for some time both in the state administration system and in “the relations between power and society.” Many options have been decided with a long-term perspective and “only in a few years will Tokaev’s political legacy be truly understood.”
The importance of justice is the “formative skeleton” of the president’s entire political vision, around which “all other ideological principles are added.” It is not just “an advertising slogan, but the true measure of the effectiveness of the reforms” that are currently being implemented. Already in the 2019 electoral campaign, Tokaev has placed the emphasis precisely on justice, and the first meaning of this ideal refers to “law and order”: a just society is not possible without the equality of all citizens before the law, guaranteed by the impartiality of the judiciary. In this area, says the diplomat, “our country has taken giant steps.”
One of the most important reforms has been the creation of the Constitutional Court, to which every citizen can go to defend their rights and freedoms, and the administrative justice system is also functioning more effectively, which protects the potentially weaker parties even in conflicts with state agencies. The statistics reported by Abaev show that, before the reforms, the State won 85% of cases, while today it does not exceed 40%.
The second reason for Tokaev’s justice is explained as “participation in political life”, citing the recent example of the popular referendum on the construction of a new nuclear power plant, which was prepared by an “open and uncompromising” confrontation in all the regions. Another meaning is also added, that of the “fair economy”, which is only at the beginning of a great transformation: “the State is oriented towards the formation of a regime much more favorable to investments and initiatives in so many business sectors, even now little practiced. The bureaucratic burden is being lightened, with numerous free zone projects, and a fierce fight is being waged against the network of corruption that blocks all development.
A “responsible and balanced foreign policy” is especially important in the face of increasingly contradictory and unpredictable changes in international relations. Referring to the most sensitive issues for the Russian public, the ambassador recalled that “the ongoing deglobalization runs the risk of leading to new blocks of confrontation”, due to the war conflicts and the mutual sanctions that they entail, which overshadow the real needs of citizens and states. That is why a “new ethics” is necessary that helps all humanity overcome “the schism of values,” Abaev concludes, without closing in on itself and overcoming both the resentment and indifference of so many. The “new Kazakhstan” aspires to contribute to the formation of an Adal Azamat, according to one of Tokaev’s favorite expressions, a “New Man” capable of facing the challenges of a changing world.
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