As Russia’s catastrophic war against Ukraine wages for a fourth week, Kazakhstan’s government has taken an official stance of neutrality – yet its people are divided.
This is perhaps unsurprising. The country’s Soviet past still lingers; it is not uncommon to meet Kazakhstanis whose roots include Kazakh, Ukrainian, Russian, Korean and other heritages.
While most Kazakhstanis support peace in Ukraine – as was seen on 6 March, when more than 1,500 people gathered in Almaty, the country’s largest city, to protest the war – openDemocracy has found a pro-Russian stance among the older generations.
