Russian Z-artist arouses anger by calling Kazakh president 'a traitor'

ALMATY -- Remarks by pro-Kremlin actor Stanislav Sadalsky regarding Kazakh President Jomart Tokayev have drawn criticism in Kazakhstan amid recent co-operation with the United States.

Sadalsky, a Russian actor and blogger, supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He and his ilk are derisively known as "Z-artists" because of the Z logo that Russians supporting their country's invasion of Ukraine have used on cars, billboards and other means of display.

Russian media and bloggers such as Sadalsky have launched an apparent campaign to smear Tokayev, who has previously refused to recognise the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" (DPR) and "Luhansk People's Republic" (LPR) separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

"Tokayev is a long-term and dangerous American project," Sadalsky, who is widely known in Russia, wrote on his LiveJournal blog on July 4 alongside a vomit emoji.

"And this is after shameful flattery of and antics and hopping about in front of [US President Joe] Biden!!! I have no faith in you, a traitor who shouldn't have been saved," he added, a reference to Tokayev's near-ouster by domestic protesters in January 2022 and his perceived disloyalty to Russia, whose forces intervened and helped him stay afloat.

Sadalsky's post was picked up by media outlets, including Pravda.ru, Forpost-sevastopol.ru, Arbat.media and Yandex Zen.

Meanwhile, for Kazakhstan and the United States, June and July brought productive meetings.

A trade mission organised by the US Chamber of Commerce visited Almaty and Astana in early June, with a delegation that included representatives of more than 20 leading US companies, according to the US Embassy in Kazakhstan.

Apple, Microsoft, EPAM Systems, Google, General Electric and Mastercard were among the companies taking part in the June 6-8 mission.

In all, more than 100 individuals representing government agencies and businesses of the two countries attended the roundtable.

Meanwhile, Kairat Umarov, Kazakh first deputy foreign minister, and Aigul Kuspan, chairwoman of the foreign affairs, defence and security committee of the Kazakh parliament's lower chamber, visited Washington July 12-13.

The two discussed political, security, and trade co-operation with US senators and members of Congress at the White House.

Anger from Kazakhs

Russian politicians put the insults against the Kazakh president into Sadalsky's mouth, Aigul Solovyeva, a former MP from Astana, told Caravanserai.

"This man doesn't look like someone who closely follows our country's internal affairs. It seems to me that he just knows that Kazakhstan is located next to Russia, and that it has a president," she said.

"But Sadalsky doesn't know whom we are friends with, whom we are develop our own projects with, and that we have business forums with the Americans."

"There's no doubt that his post is a commissioned hit piece that the pro-Russian media picked up with pleasure ... Sadalsky doesn't fully understand what is happening in his own country, but he has already figured out Kazakhstan and given his expert opinion."

Russia is losing a terrible war in Ukraine -- which it itself started -- and has sustained huge financial and military losses, she said, adding that Western and European sanctions are crushing it.

"Economic problems, resistance by the entire world [against Russia] and powerlessness are leading Russian politicians to spoil relations with those few countries that have not yet turned against Russia," she said.

"I believe that our president needs to be more decisive in relation to Russia," Solovyeva added.

The campaign against the president of Kazakhstan has sunk to a new low, Almaty resident Serik Mambetov, founder of the website Matrica.kz, told Caravanserai.

"Previously, people in Russia criticised our president, but they refrained from insulting him. We heard all sorts of rhetoric addressed to us from various Russian MPs, politicians, popular TV hosts and entertainers, but at least they used appropriate language."

"But this guy [Sadalsky], who talks like a thug, is being used to convey to the masses ... the message that the Kazakh president is supposedly an American spy," said Mambetov.

The claim that the president is some kind of agent or stooge is nonsense, Almaty businessman Arman Shorayev told Caravanserai.

"For Sadalsky, these statements, at a minimum, mean a ban on his entry into Kazakhstan in any capacity. But in reality, he is an example of the establishment that now remains in Russia," he said.

'Out of bounds'

Russian public figures have ramped up criticism of Kazakhstan since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a journalist from Uralsk, told Caravanserai.

"The Russian media have become a megaphone for aggressive war propaganda, so for them, everyone who is not with them is against them. Now all this has begun to be accompanied by insults, political labels," Akhmedyarov said.

"Politics obliges the leaders of countries to integrate into modern global processes, to interact with leading world players, such as the United States and the European Union," said Akhmedyarov.

"So, if some poorly educated and narrow-minded person, even a celebrity, calls someone pro-American for leading his country on a well-calibrated course, then that is just fine," he said.

Anyone involved in high-level politics inevitably becomes the target of criticism, said Alexandra Litova, a linguist from Almaty.

"The pejorative tone of the Russian press towards our president was set by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. He has called him by the wrong name more than once in front of journalists," Litova noted.

Putin erroneously called Tokayev "Kasam Zhemel Kemelich" in January 2022 during a meeting with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu that was widely broadcast.

In June 2022 at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Putin botched Tokayev's name again, this time calling him "Kemezhan Ishemilyevch".

"In my view, our foreign minister should have at least summoned the Russian ambassador to Kazakhstan and complained. The bullying of Tokayev in the Russian press is already out of bounds," said Litova.