The Week in Kazakhstan: The Ides of March

More than 12 million voters will be called to approve the new Constitution through a referendum on March 15, as ordered via decree by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on February 11. The new text, published the next day, differs little from the previous one, although the fundamental infrastructure of the executive and legislative branches are poised to change with the introduction of a vice-president and the abolition of the Senate. According to the new Constitution, the current Parliament will be dismissed on July 1, the date the new Basic Law will enter into force.

At a government plenary on February 10, Tokayev asked the ministry of AI and digital development about the current penetration of the Aitu messaging app, a proprietary tool that the government wants officials to use instead of private apps. Minister Zhaslan Madiyev said that “at least 700,000 people are using it, almost one million.” Tokayev shrugged and ordered a thorough verification of these numbers.

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the railway company, could sell up to 25% of its shares in an IPO, sources told Bloomberg on February 13. The IPO could take place “as soon as May” and raise about $1 billion. Samruk-Kazyna, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, is the sole owner of Kazakhstan Temir Zholy.

Mining and trading giant Glencore is reportedly accelerating talks to sell his 70% stake in Kazzinc, sources told Reuters on February 6. Glencore’s talks with rival Rio Tinto for a merger failed last week. Now, Glencore is focusing on selling assets outside of its core copper business.

Bogatyr Komir, the company that mines around 38% of Kazakhstan’s total coal production, said it will increase production by about one-third in the next few years. On February 12, the ministry of energy said that the company, owned in equal shares by Russia’s RUSAL and state-owned Samruk-Energy, will increase coal production from 42.7 tons (2024) to 56.5 million tons by 2032.

Kazakhstan’s ministry of finance appeal board postponed its decision regarding tax claims against Zhaikmunai, a subsidiary of London-listed Nostrum Oil & Gas, the company said on February 9. Zhaikmunai disagrees with the ministry regarding tax claims resulting from audits for 2018 and 2019. Zhaikmunai operates the Chinarevskoye oil field in north-western Kazakhstan.

Oil extraction will continue near the Kokzhide water basin, the ministry of energy told Vlast on February 9. A legal dispute between the Department of Ecology of the western Aktobe region and the oil companies had ensued in 2023 for fear of potential environmental pollution, leading to a halt in production. The government intervened by commissioning a study that essentially gave the green light to drilling. The findings of the study, produced by Satpayev University and the KAZENERGY lobby group remain confidential.

Illustration: Vlast.kz.

Berlin-based anticorruption watchdog Transparency International published its yearly global report on corruption perception on February 10. Kazakhstan’s position and score worsened in 2025. Transparency said that: “When anti-corruption powers are moved into closed security structures [...] the fight against corruption risks becoming a PR campaign with no independent oversight and accountability.”

CSCEC, China’s largest construction company and the contractor building the light-rail system in Astana, announced on February 11 that it will take part in real estate projects in Alatau City, a new urban development north of Almaty. According to an existing memorandum, CSCEC’s $420 million project will also involve the National Investment Corporation (owned by Kazakhstan’s Central Bank) and Yuriy Tskhay’s Caspian Group, which is developing the Gate District business center.

Kamchybek Tashiev, Kyrgyzstan’s deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the National Security Committee (GKNB), was fired on February 10. Tashiev was in Germany for a medical treatment at the time of the announcement. The following day, Tashiev said that he did not expect this decision.

Kazakhstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has granted a request by the Russian government to extradite activist Yulia Yemelyanova, a former volunteer at Alexey Navalny’s headquarters in St. Petersburg, her legal representative Murat Adam told Vlast on February 11. A coalition of exiled Russian opposition activists says the case against her is “politically motivated” and "fabricated.” [Read more here.]

A court in St. Petersburg sentenced Harry Azaryan, a citizen of Kazakhstan, to two years in prison for his public statements during a rally, Mediazona reported on February 11. Azaryan was detained by the Russian authorities in May 2025. [Read more here.]

Former priest Iakov Vorontsov was detained for 10 days on February 13 as he faces administrative charges and is being called as a witness in a criminal case. Father Iakov, known for his public statements about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was detained because the police found evidence of use of drugs, his lawyer, Galym Nurpeisov, told Vlast. [Read more here.]

The Almaty Department of Ecology said on February 11 that the city will introduce a ban on burning solid fuels starting at the end of 2026. Residential and business buildings with access to the gas network will no longer be able to burn wood and solid coal to heat saunas and private boiler rooms.

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