Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/28/kazakhstan-doesnt-want-to-be-behind-iron-curtain-minister
Kazakhstan, a former Soviet satellite state, has faced many challenges so far this year. Earlier this year in January, massive protests and riots broke out across the country which was met with violent resistance from Kazakhstani officers and Russian troops who helped stabilize the country. Now, Kazakhstan faces a new issue, Russia. Earlier this year, Russia invaded its western neighbor of Ukraine and was met with swift backlash from the international community in terms of sanctions, diplomatic condemning, and funding of the Ukrainian military.
This hurts Kazakhstan as it has very close economic and political ties with its northern neighbor Russia. Kazakhstan after the invasion has begun distancing itself from Russia. In a statement, Roman Vassilenko, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, stated that they did not want to find themselves on the wrong side again of Russia’s iron curtain. He also stated that Russian companies that are hit by sanctions are welcomed and encouraged to move their operations to Kazakhstan. However, Kazakhstan has avoided openly condemning Russia’s invasion but has instead emphasized the importance of the UN Charter.
Kazakhstan has to walk a tight rope through this diplomatic crisis. Firstly, Kazakhstan can not align themselves too closely with Russia as they could also face sanctions and diplomatic blacklisting from the United States, Western Europe, and their allies. However, Kazakhstan is still largely economically dependent on Russia and shares a large border with it. Therefore, they can not condemn Russia too strongly as they have no leverage in the two countries’ relationship.
Therefore, Kazakhstan will have to largely abstain from the situation as many other countries have like China. Abstaining allows Kazakhstan and China to keep their economic ties with the West while also not facing an aggressive Russian government.
This story demonstrates the importance of geographical proximity in comparing governments. It is much easier for a country in the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and other regions far from Russia to condemn the invasion because their economic and political systems are not as intertwined, therefore they face no serious threat from Russia. However, bordering countries like China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, do not have that luxury because their condemning of Russia could be met with serious and grave consequences as their systems are more intertwined because of the geographic proximity of their countries.