ALMATY -- Countries in Central Asia, which Russian officials often disparagingly call the "backyard" to their nation, are increasingly distancing themselves from Moscow amid growing disillusionment with the regime's policies and its waning influence on their societies.
While the shift away from Russia has been occurring for some time in the region, it has not always been outwardly noticeable.
That surface calm is starting to change. Criticism of Russian policies by the regime's neighbours is emerging more often, and more-visible attempts to break cultural ties with the Soviet Union's successor are emerging.
Caravanserai has compiled several events of the past year that demonstrate that disillusionment with Russia's actions is nudging Central Asian countries toward national self-assertiveness, the pursuit of economic alternatives to Russia, and increased co-operation with the international community.
![A migrant worker from Uzbekistan pours salt on a slippery sidewalk in Almaty December 26. Migrant workers, fed up with poor conditions and xenophobia in Russia, are now finding work opportunities in their own region. [Kanat Altynbayev]](/cnmi_ca/images/2020/01/02/21675-1-585_329.jpg)
A migrant worker from Uzbekistan pours salt on a slippery sidewalk in Almaty December 26. Migrant workers, fed up with poor conditions and xenophobia in Russia, are now finding work opportunities in their own region. [Kanat Altynbayev]
![An Almaty resident watches an evening serial on Qazaqstan, a local TV channel, August 18. Many citizens in Central Asia are turning away from Russian news channels. [File]](/cnmi_ca/images/2020/01/02/21676-2-585_329.jpg)
An Almaty resident watches an evening serial on Qazaqstan, a local TV channel, August 18. Many citizens in Central Asia are turning away from Russian news channels. [File]
![Kazakh banknotes are shown March 1. Future tenge notes, unlike the bilingual ones shown, will bear only the Kazakh language, not Russian. [File]](/cnmi_ca/images/2020/01/02/21677-3-585_329.jpg)
Kazakh banknotes are shown March 1. Future tenge notes, unlike the bilingual ones shown, will bear only the Kazakh language, not Russian. [File]
Growing Russian xenophobia
In 2019, several events revealed Russian society's rising animosity toward Central Asian migrant workers.
The most recent incident to cause a diplomatic outcry occurred on December 12 in Khabarovsk, Russia.
Without offering any justification, a local OMON (riot police) unit beat up more than 70 Kyrgyz citizens working as bus drivers. Some of the victims ended up in critical condition.
In September, Andrei Malakhov, host of the programme "Live" on the Russian state-owned TV channel Russia-1, baselessly accused a taxi driver from Kyrgyzstan of carrying out a contract killing of a Russian billionaire's son. The young man was killed when he crashed his motorcycle into the Kyrgyz driver's taxi.
A month later, an uproar ensued from a demeaning incident in October at Zhukovsky Airport in Moscow, where customs officers and airline workers shouted at Tajik passengers and subjected them to humiliating procedures.
A Dushanbe journalist, Anora Sarkorova, wrote on Facebook about how she was detained without cause at the airport and put through a grueling 40-minute interrogation. Her post resonated widely with Facebook users across the region, who raised the issue of prejudice in Russia against those with non-Slavic features and shared their own experiences.
These incidents can be attributed to growing xenophobia among Russians, said a recent study.
The Levada Centre, an independent pollster in Moscow, conducted a survey and found a sharp increase in xenophobic sentiment among Russia's residents in 2019. A total of 72% of Russians, up from 58% in 2017, say the government should limit the influx of migrant workers.
Labour migrants shift
While living conditions for Central Asian migrant workers are worsening in Russia, Kazakhstan is preparing to loosen the rules for migrants, according to Fergana News.
A Kazakh Foreign Ministry discussion group suggested eliminating work permit requirements for migrants from countries that share a visa waiver programme with Kazakhstan, which includes all the Central Asian states.
The International Legal Initiative (ILI), an Almaty-based non-governmental organisation, has recommended simplifying the process for migrant workers to gain legal status to work. "The recommendation has essentially been implemented," according to a spokesperson for the Kazakh Migration Service.
In recent years, Kazakhstan has been a more appealing country for many Central Asian migrant workers who previously worked in Russia, said Bishkek economist Elmira Suranchiyeva in October.
The effort by other nations to welcome migrant workers coupled with the xenophobic treatment by many Russians and an economic slowdown in that country is contributing to a significant outflow of labour in Russia and, as a result, serious demographic problems.
Kazakhstan offers more-favourable working conditions for migrants from Kyrgyzstan, who "are considered brothers" in Kazakhstan, while a relatively stable economy makes it possible for them to make plans for the future, added Suranchiyeva.
Double economic standards
The Russian regime is using all the administrative levers at its disposal to keep Kazakh entrepreneurs from entering its market, the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan said in November.
That practice flouts key principles of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-led body that stipulates the free movement of goods and includes several Central Asian countries.
The Kremlin discriminates against Kazakh entrepreneurs when soliciting bids for government contracts and gives unfounded preference to its own suppliers, said Atameken.
In particular, Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian agricultural regulator, has repeatedly placed restrictions on dairy products and frozen food ingredients from Kazakhstan, the chamber has found.
Earlier this year, on more than one occasion Kazakh exporters publicly raised the issue, appealing to Nur-Sultan to implement reciprocal measures against the Russian regime, whose products enter the Kazakh market without any obstacles.
The EEU does not truly have an economic mission but rather is a political project to restore Russian influence in the post-Soviet region, said Rasul Zhumaly of Almaty, a former Kazakh diplomat and author of "Geopolitics in Central Asia", in April.
Russian media lose audience
At the same time, Central Asians' trust in the Russian media is declining. They instead are consulting domestic websites in their national languages and social networks to view the news.
Russian TV channels are losing their audience even in Russia, mainly because of the excessive pro-Kremlin propaganda they spout, the Levada Centre said in a report published in August, "The Russian Media Landscape".
In October, Turkmenistan rejected Russian TV channels, which became inaccessible even with satellite antennas, said a source at Turkmentelecom, the country's state-owned telecom firm.
A month earlier, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), a London-based international organisation working in Central Asia on issues relating to the development of the media and human rights, published the results of its study on news consumption in Central Asia.
It found that young Central Asians obtain their news mainly from social networks, in proportions ranging from 87% (Uzbekistan) to 92% (Kyrgyzstan) of users.
The IWPR report also noted growing demand for online content in Kazakh and Kyrgyz in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, while in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, blogs offering content in Tajik and Uzbek, respectively, are the most popular.
Central Asian audiences have formed an antipathy to the propaganda barrage they find on Russian TV, said Erlan Satybekov of Bishkek, a media observer.
However, in northern Kazakhstan, the half of that country bordering Russia, the dominance of Russian TV presents the opposite problem for Nur-Sultan, said Almaty political analyst Aidos Sarym: "The problems of many residents there with national self-identification present a direct threat to national security."
Rejection of the Russian language
In early 2019, Kazakhstan approved a future design for the tenge that is only in Kazakh and does not include Russian, which appears as a second language on the banknotes now in circulation. Kazakhstan has not set a date for the appearance of the new banknotes.
The planned design includes a Kazakh motif, portraits of prominent contributors to Kazakhstan's history and development, unique historic and geographic places and architectural monuments in Kazakhstan, images of the country's flora and fauna, and important symbols connected with the country.
In early 2017, Kazakhstan planned to gradually transition from writing Kazakh with the Cyrillic alphabet to using the Latin alphabet by 2025.
Other Central Asian countries already have printed banknotes devoid of Russian lettering: the Uzbek som has notations only in the Latin script, while Tajikistan's national currency, the somoni, in addition to Tajik, has English-language writing.
Kazakhstan's decision rankled Russia.
In February, a group of Russian nationalists used its Facebook page to threaten Nur-Sultan with the loss of northern Kazakhstan, where the bulk of the country's Russian-speaking population lives.
They cited as an example the events in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, and in Donbas, the eastern part of Ukraine that is populated with Russian-speaking separatists who have declared independence but have not received international recognition.
I'm reading this article and thinking that recently the attitude towards migrants in Russia has become very hard to bear. Patents have become more expensive, the police are aggressive, checking your ID without any explanation; if you ask them to show their credentials, they respond aggressively. If you ask them what the reason is they are checking your documents, they will either not answer or tell you that they have their orders. Patents have become more expensive. In recent years, the number of Uzbek citizens in Russia keeps growing. It used to be Ukrainian migrants were the ones going to Russia the most. And now it is Uzbekistan that has the most migrants to Russia. Most important, there are many good people in Russia; refrain from propaganda. I want to say we need to live amicably together, no matter what happens. We need to have friendly relations with Russia May peace be at home with everyone. I respect Russia and other CIS countries. Everything will be fine.
Reply44 Comment(s)
They can't behave themselves in Russia, [they] rape [women] despite droves of easy women from Ukraine or "prostitutes" from Central Asia. Nonetheless, they rape them. There is only one per cent willing to work; the others want a free ride. They have disgraced themselves, but they want to be treated nicely anyway.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Kazakhs themselves are fucking nationalists. You are writing about Russia, but pay attention to how you treat Uzbek citizens, and how your customs officers and the fuzz even take one thousand KZT from common citizens.
Reply44 Comment(s)
The Russian Federation is not the USSR, and the EEU is not an economic union. It's the process of forming an underbelly with weak, inferior leadership. And one of the goals is to develop Russian automobile and other industries at the expense of their neighbors. They also export methods of precluding the public from having a say. Hideous.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Russia is a fascist country
ReplyNothing is smart about these provocative acts; the author probably wrote a cheap article on orders from Pompeo.
ReplyYou can read this kind of poppycock in any Western newspaper, and in spite of it millions of Asians go to Russia.
44 Comment(s)
Looneys
Reply44 Comment(s)
Yes, you're right brother, I agree. They do act brazenly while they are in a foreign country. If they behaved more humbly and calmly themselves, then no one would have arrested them. Why don't others get arrested? For example, Germans and Finns. Because they are conscientious, they don't yell like Central Asians, and unlike us they are compliant. Of course, Russian will hate Asians after that because [Russians] give them a chance to earn some money. But be grateful to those people.
Reply44 Comment(s)
I see that this resource is sowing strife between peoples again. Uzbeks, Russians, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz. I consider them one people and one culture. And this rag should stop stirring up [problems] between peoples.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Better stay away from Russia
ReplyKeep close ties to the West; they will give you a job, feed you, and teach you liberal tolerance, how to love Gay Pride and respect gay marriages.
Reply44 Comment(s)
I'm sorry, but unlike the Russians, they are slaving away, doing the jobs Russians will never do. And 58169 says that they stole something from your pocket. Why don't your Russians come in from the villages to work, but blow their money on booze instead? Ask yourself that.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Both Russia and the USA would consider a powerful Turkestan consisting of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan disadvantageous. That's why they divided us.
Reply44 Comment(s)
An embittered, impoverished, hard drinking, HIV-positive, backwater of civilizations - that's SHITRUSSIA
Reply44 Comment(s)
All those anti-Russian, leave! Work where you belong! Nobody is forcing you to work in a foreign country! Develop your Republic!
ReplyDevelop, not divelop. Learn from non-Russians... [There's a grammar mistake in the previous Russian comment the current commentator is replying to]
ReplyRussians themselves have grown numb; they don't know their mother tongue. [They] say Central Asia will be lost without Russia, but they are getting lost without us.
Reply44 Comment(s)
A private jail for the "slants": people in Rossoshino village are looking for protection from "ZGRP", a jade mining company. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZieW8Yoa14&t=1s
Reply44 Comment(s)
I have been disappointed with Russia since 2014 after they illegally annexed Ukrainian Crimea.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Who in the world needs this chauvinist backcountry on permafrost?
ReplyI need it, and so do all the patriots of Russia!
ReplyThat is why millions of immigrants are roaming across Russian Federation, freezing cold does not bother them, northern perpetual cold does not get them, because rubles warm them!
Reply44 Comment(s)
Impoverished Russia full of vicious Nazi scum is not an attractive country for sure.
ReplyRich, developed and kind Central Asia. Isn't that a joke!
ReplyBackward and trailer trash Russia is a superpower that pays out pensions of about $150. That's a joke for sure.
Reply44 Comment(s)
The New Year's sweep for non-Russians in downtown Moscow keeps going. Red Square, 01/05/2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eShqBCGkW_w
Reply44 Comment(s)
Had the Central Asian countries united and created a common currency or a common state, our Asians would not be humiliated in Russia today. There would be no xenophobia, humiliation, etc.
ReplyRemember the 90s! Especially in Dushanbe ... That's where the Russian xenophobia, as you call it, comes from ... It's a CLEAR-EYED UNDERSTANDING of you Asians, stemming from the experiment by the Russian people in the 20th century! We invested in you way too much, and you had devoured everything, licked your lips, paid nothing back, and started pickpocketing us again!
The Russians despise you because you are greedy and brazen rascals and fools, not capable of assessing the situation realistically!!!
What kind of an idiot you are to demand gratitude to YOU from the Russians who gave YOU work?! How many of you, without a shadow of a doubt, UNASHAMEDLY, as the Russians say it - but you have no such concepts as SHAME and FAIRNESS - are sneaking in to get the RUSSIAN citizenship, grabbing maternity capital ... Do you even have the right to claim that?
The Russians had been sustaining and feeding you throughout the 20th century. And now you are boldly shoving your hands in our pockets!
If you don't stop it, Putin won't be able to hold us!
Had you modestly, gratefully and consciously used our kindness, which gave you a chance to make some money in Russia for your village, NOT MAKING CLAIMS for anything else, you would be tolerated!!!
PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY ARE YOU CLAIMING MATERNITY CAPITAL, SOCIAL PAYMENTS AND PENSIONS? DID YOU WORK [in Russia] TO CLAIM IT? THE RUSSIANS OWE YOU NOTHING! IF YOU WERE DECENT PEOPLE, YOU WOULDN'T BE TRYING TO GET THE RUSSIAN CITIZENSHIP AND EVERYTHI
ReplyLook back at your past: first off, the Russians pillaged you
Reply44 Comment(s)
Rounding-up Asians in Moscow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b9u6pNlT20&t=237s
Reply44 Comment(s)
It was mayhem in Moscow during New Year celebrations. The police and the National Guard of Russia round-up Asians like Nazis did with Jews a while back, cramming them into police vans and taking them off to no one knows where.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Other countries hate Russia more and more; even the Russians hate each other.
ReplyCorrect
Reply44 Comment(s)
A Nazi state cannot be appealing to other countries. Even more so since the crisis in Russia has been going on and getting worse for five years already.
ReplyThat's true
Reply44 Comment(s)
Unfortunately, it's true: xenophobia, mocking Gastarbeiters [migrant workers] in Russia and elsewhere, mocking Central Asians on Russian TV-channels. Also, there's this quite annoying topic of Ukraine on all major news channels in Russia where Ukraine is the public enemy No 1; and much more negative coverage of Gastarbeiters and their home countries.
ReplyLeave! Don't apply for Russian citizenship and, most importantly, don't try to get our maternity capital, social benefits, pensions and welfare!! THAT'S IT! And everybody will respect you!
Reply44 Comment(s)
Switching to the Latin script is Kazakhstan's business, Russian Foreign minister Lavrov said. It is the official position of Russia. Whatever this group of some sort of Nazis scribbled is no more than graffiti on the walls (strangely, there are no names of these Nazis or their Facebook page with the threats they posted provided in the article).
ReplyIt's a Kazakhstani internal affair, and we are not Nazis. You are a Nazi writing all these nasty things here. We are an independent country; we have our own national language; it doesn't mean that we refuse to learn other world languages.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Well, inscriptions on Kazakh coins have always been in Kazakh, it didn't bother me a bit.
Reply44 Comment(s)
Russia is becoming a very unsavoury country. It loses to Western countries in almost every way but is leading in the numbers of Nazis.
ReplyIndeed you are comparing apples to oranges. If you had a choice whether to work in Europe or Russia, even a Russian would be working in Europe.
ReplyYes
ReplyIt's a subjective opinion. There's not a speck of objectivity here.
Reply44 Comment(s)