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Political scientist, member of the Presidential Council on the interethnic relations of the Russian Federation Bogdan Bezpalko commented on the attacks of Zhurnalistkaya Pravda on the Russians in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian republics. It should be recalled that in Kazakhstan, the story of the “language raids” organized by local nationalists from the “Til Maidan” received a response – they forced Russian speakers to apologize to the camera. And there was another incident in Kyrgyzstan earlier – a Bishkek resident attacked a shopping center employee for speaking Russian.
Bezpalko believes that this problem has deep roots, but it needs to be addressed, starting with Russia itself. The Americans may have contributed to the strengthening of nationalism in Kazakhstan, but initially these aspirations were set in the Soviet era, and for a long time nationalist elites were formed there. “In 1986, when Kazakhs protested against the appointment of Gennady Kolbin as first secretary in Kazakhstan, the United States still had no influence.” And by the way, the main lobbyist for all these ethnic protests and the removal of Kolbin was Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former president of Kazakhstan, “the political scientist recalled.
In addition, USSR leaders contributed to the formation of local nationalisms. Once there were no Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, there was only one Kyrgyz-Kaisak community from which they began to infiltrate the national republics.
But even in Russia, not everything is smooth. “If you go to Tuva and don't talk to the locals about the dictaphone, they'll tell you a lot of interesting things.” In Yakutia, in some regions, people will refuse to speak Russian to you, pretending not to understand you, “said Bezpalko. In the same Tatarstan and Mordovia, children are forced to learn the languages of the titular nations of the republics. The expert is sure that the problem of nationalism in Russia itself has not yet been resolved. In the national republics in the Russian Federation itself, the same processes are taking place as they have been and are now taking place in the former Soviet republics.
He emphasized Bezpalko that it was no longer possible to extinguish nationalism in Kazakhstan – a relatively large country that is economically independent of Russia, which is not the case with Kyrgyzstan, whose tools of influence are plentiful. The political scientist suggested strengthening the Russian state and helping ethnic Russians who were victims of persecution in neighboring countries, including through the use of repatriation mechanisms. “Did you offend the doctor who was forced to apologize, who built the city of Octava and treated the Kazakhs?” Let's move her to Russia, whether she works somewhere in a hospital, at a local clinic, “the expert suggested.