According to experts, the government of Kazakhstan needs to voice their own objective information and evaluations from time to time about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and its impact on the country.
After the invasion by the Russian forces of Ukraine, the relations between some Kazakhstanis have deteriorated. A resident of Petropavlovsk, a city in the north of Kazakhstan on the border with Russia, Olga (she asked us not to use her real name) told us that she is having misunderstanding with her friend because of the war in Ukraine.
“My friend has very close relatives in Donbas now, and she adheres to the position that Ukraine is to blame and Russia is doing the right thing. When I told her about Bucha, and talked about raping of children and women, she said it could possibly be Russians, but there were all sorts of riff-raff there. However, it could be Ukrainians themselves,” she said.
Journalist Yekaterina Mostovaia of Nur-Sultan is tired of keeping the track of events in Ukraine by news and decided to make her contribution. At the end of March, she offered her help to the Humanitarian Support Headquarters for Ukraine.
“I have offered my help as a PR volunteer and now I am helping the information service of the Headquarters. This activity helps me feel useful and do something valuable now. You might not be doing your best, but you make your contribution and it helps to ease emotional tension,” Mostovaia said.
But not all her relatives and friends understand and support her in her desire to help Ukrainians as a volunteer. According to her, some acquaintances even tried to explain to her the motives of the Russian government.
“Once there were insults addressed to me. But our paths quickly diverged, fortunately, social networks have a “block” function. And with relatives I just try not to discuss.I understand that there is no use of disputing with elderly relatives. I know that if a person has watched TV for many years and has had no access to alternative sources of information, it is useless to dispute with them. I cannot create a new reality to some 80-year-old man. He will probably not hear me,” she said.
Sources of information are the important factor affecting the public perception of the situation in Ukraine amid the media war. According to the poll of Demoscope, Bureau for Express Monitoring of Public Opinion, most of Kazakhstanis trust Kazakh and Russian media. And only one third of respondents read news from several sources.
When the conflict between Russia and Ukraine turned into real war, the relations between Kazakhstanis in social media have become tense. On March 26, 2022, radio presenter Liubov Panova posted harsh statements on Facebook under the post with the flag of Russia, and threatened critics to call “uncle Vova” for help. The discussion unfolded and users complained to ‘Russkoye Radio Asia’, where she worked in the past. According to the radio station, it doesn’t share ex-employee’s personal opinion. ‘Europa Plus Kazakhstan’, where Panova worked back then, also behaved the same way. They said that her statements have nothing to do with the radio station’s policy and they stopped their labour relations with her on March 28, 2022.
According to Andrei Chebotaryov, director of ‘Alternativa’ Centre for Current Researches, absolute strangers not just dispute, but blame each other for all possible ‘sins’ and do not care about offensive language they use. The expert links it to professional provocateurs who intentionally misinform many people, discredit dissenting people and organisations, provoke ethnic hatred and destabilisation in the country.
However, according to him, more representatives of absolutely different professional, age, ethnic and other categories are vulnerable to aggression today.
“Some are eagerly looking for ‘enemies’, analysing each other’s enemies, likes, etc. [...] Negative statements take place not only against Russia as a political entity, but in fact against all Russian – language, culture, foods, etc. However, those who have opposite views and opinions also have something to say to their opponents,” Chebotaryov said.
According to the survey held by DEMOSCOPE Bureau of Express Monitoring of Public Opinion, Kazakhstanis split up into four groups by their attitude to the events in Ukraine.
According to sociologist Tatiana Rezvushkina, people are neutral because it’s the media war going on and people feel at a loss about who’s right and who’s wrong.
“A person intrinsically has binary thinking splitting everything into white and black, good and bad. This neutral position helps keep the distance and look at the situation from the outside. Here neutrality is a kind of defensive reaction,” Rezvushkina said.
However, according to Chebotaryov, when emotions in some people overrule critical thinking and common sense, it is difficult to stay objective and even peaceful. For example, even a common reference to a name of any Russian official aside from the war with Ukraine can be ostracised.
“Representatives of ‘first’ and ‘second’ do not seem to like the neutrality of the ‘third’ ones. They either try to bring them on their side, or immediately list them as their ‘enemies’ according to a well-known principle “he that is not with us is against us”. Therefore, many people try not to comment or discuss this topic,” the political analyst said.
Meanwhile, according to the same survey, respondents do not have one dominating opinion about the conflict. About one third of Kazakhstanis think that it is “a military operation of Russia against the Nazi” going on in Ukraine.
On April 9, several activists of the civil movement “Oyan, Qazaqstan” came to the Russian embassy in Almaty to express their protest against Russia’s actions in Ukraine and to pay tribute to victims of military crimes. They lied down with their hands tied. The action lasted for three minutes only, and the police detained the participants.
Photo: masa.media / Diana Matveyeva
Earlier, on March 6, nearly two thousand people in Almaty started the authorised protest against war in Ukraine behind ‘Sary-Arka’ cinema. It started with the anthem of Kazakhstan, then the participants started chanting “No to war!”, “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!”
And on February 24, residents of Almaty and activists took to the streets to protest the war, and the city police detained participants of Oyan, Qazaqstan! Movement who held the anti-war picket in front of the consular agency of Russia. The detainees were released a couple of hours later.
Dialogue with the people
Nevertheless, the government of Kazakhstan adheres to the principles of foreign multi-vector policy and neutrality. Although, it takes much effort today. Moreover, the society in the country cannot still recover from the January stress. Therefore, according to the experts, the government tries not to suppress the desire of protesters to voice their position. Otherwise, it can turn into a second wave of discontent and massive protests.
On March 29, Timur Suleimenov, first deputy chief of staff to the president, in the interview to EURACTIV news said that Kazakhstan will not help Moscow in circumventing the sanctions by the West, but will continue to invest in Russia and attract investment for Russia as there is no way for the Kazakhstan economy to do it differently because of the dependence on Russia.
The government of Kazakhstan also suggested to act as an intermediary in talks between Russia and Ukraine. On March 11, it was stated by Roman Vasilenko, deputy foreign minister, during his visit to Slovakia.
In the meantime, according to political analyst Chebotaryov, if this position of Kazakhstan is understood and supported at the international level, it is not so within the country. According to him, in this situation the authorities should first regularly voice their own objective information and assessments of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and its impact on our country. And, second, they should apply the existing laws to suppress any manifestations of xenophobia, separatism and war propaganda.