The Week in Kazakhstan: Schemes, Sales, and Sentences

Several companies linked to Kazakhstan have been included in the European Commission’s expanded 20th sanctions package, which was published on April 23. The additions include Kazakhstan-based United Trading Group and its founder Alimzhan Bekov. The Commission also lifted sanctions against several banks in Tajikistan, and banned exports of certain goods ​to Kyrgyzstan due to the risk that they may ultimately be reaching Russia. The measures restricting exports to Kyrgyzstan mark the first time that the EU has made use of its anti-sanctions circumvention tools.

Energy

State-owned utility conglomerate Samruk Energy has said it plans to sell its stake in Bogatyr Komir, one of the world’s largest mines. In its annual report, published this week, Samruk Energy said that it had agreed to sell a 35% stake in Forum Muider, the Dutch company that owns Bogatyr Komir, in December 2025 to an undisclosed buyer. Samruk Energy and Russia’s Rusal previously both owned 50% stakes in Forum Muider before each sold 15% to Primet, a Qatari company (as reported in Samruk Energy’s Q3 2025 report), for an undisclosed sum in September. [Read more here.]

The Russian government announced that it will temporarily halt the flow of Kazakhstan’s oil to Germany through its Druzhba pipeline, Reuters reported on April 21, citing insider sources. On April 22, Kazakhstan’s ministry of energy said it had not been notified about delivery schedule changes, but suggested the move could be linked to recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. The following day, Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Kazakhstan’s oil will be redirected via other routes “due to current technical limitations.”

Almasadam Satkaliyev, chairman of Kazakhstan’s Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters on April 21 that the construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant is set to be financed by a joint governmental loan between Kazakhstan and Russia, with Moscow providing up to 85% of the total sum, and Astana providing the remaining 15%. In 2025, Kazakhstan’s government signed an agreement with Russia’s nuclear energy company Rosatom to build a power plant near Lake Balkhash worth around $15 billion.

France’s TotalEnergies, Kazakhstan’s national holding company Samruk-Kazyna, and its oil and gas subsidiary Kazmunaigas signed an agreement on April 24 to finance the construction of a 1 GW wind farm. The $1.2 billion contract marks a significant step forward for the project, which was first proposed in 2023 and will be built in Kazakhstan’s southern Zhambyl region. Two days earlier, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov signed a decree to green light a different, $645 million, 500 MW wind farm in the central Karaganda region, to be jointly built by a Kazakhstani-Chinese investment consortium.

Politics, Labor, and Privacy

A survey published on April 21 by Demoscope has found that, while an overwhelming majority of Kazakhstanis believe that the country needs change, 56% are afraid to openly criticize the government’s actions online, considering it unsafe. The research group noted that there is a negative “correlation between fear of public criticism and the level of trust in government institutions.”

The ministry of labor has said that it plans to shorten the duration for which unemployment benefits are available to jobless Kazakhstani citizens. The ministry, which manages the Social Insurance Fund, is currently in the process of “uncovering schemes,” minister Askarbek Yertayev said during a government briefing on April 21. The ministry said it also will add a cap on payouts and order more stringent background checks on citizens requesting unemployment benefits.

Deputy Kudaibergen Beksultanov has encouraged the ministry of information to integrate the “Sergek” video surveillance system with national policing algorithms designed to detect aggressive behavior. The request, made during a parliamentary session on April 22, comes amid a wider campaign by the ruling Amanat party to promote “clean” language, traditional social values, and civil discourse.

Economy & Business

Kazakhstan’s Central Bank announced on April 24 that it will keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 18%. The regulator had previously pledged to keep interest rates steady in the first half of 2026, so long that inflation remained within forecasts. At the beginning of April, year-on-year inflation stood at 11%.

Kaspi.kz, one of Kazakhstan’s largest banks, announced on April 20 that a group of investors including Chinese tech giant Tencent had purchased 6 million American Depositary Shares from private equity group Baring Fintech Venture Funds for an unspecified price. With the sale, Baring’s investment stake will shrink from 22.3% to approximately 19%, according to company data.

Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national rail carrier, plans to organize an IPO before the end of 2026, deputy chairman Yerlan Koishibayev said on April 24. According to Koishibayev, proceeds from the IPO will be used to pay off the company’s outstanding debt, which amounts to 4.7 trillion tenge ($10 billion).

Civil Society

A group of journalists have called for the “deliberate spreading of false information” to be decriminalized. Speaking at a press conference on April 22, Lukpan Akhmedyarov, co-founder of the Just Journalism YouTube channel, said: “Currently, police officers have the power to assess and determine a journalist’s guilt.” The offense in question, article 274 of the criminal code, has long been used to punish and silence journalists in Kazakhstan.

Animal rights activists in Kazakhstan’s northern Kostanai region were prevented from holding a protest rally on April 18, despite having previously received permission to do so. The local administration in the city of Arkalyk strongly denied any involvement in the disruption of the rally. The activists called for the withdrawal of a bill currently under consideration in the Senate that proposes the killing of stray or abandoned dogs within five days of them being seized by dogcatchers.

Chechen deserter Zelimkhan Murtazov was allowed to leave Kazakhstan on April 20 after being stranded in Astana International Airport’s transit zone for 117 days. Murtazov, who fled the Russian army after serving in Ukraine, previously traveled to Kazakhstan in order to request political asylum, but was denied entry to the country. According to his lawyer, Elena Zhigalenok, he flew to Yerevan, where he will now request asylum, after direct flights between Kazakhstan and Armenia resumed this week. [Read more about Murtazov and the treatment of other Russian dissidents and deserters in Kazakhstan here.]

On April 22, a court in Almaty sentenced LGBTQ+ activist Amir Shaikezhanov to five years in prison for rape. In June last year, Shaikezhanov was arrested after a former employee at Amirovka–an LGBTQ+ bar and queer safe space owned by Shaikezhanov–accused him of sexual assault. Shaikezhanov pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.

The same day, another LGBTQ+ activist Zhanar Sekerbayeva was fined 173,000 tenge ($370) after being found guilty of assault by a court in Astana. Sekerbayeva, the co-founder of Feminita, had been accused of causing injury to Ziuar Zhumanova, a conservative, family rights activist who had previously disrupted several gatherings of Feminita activists.

Father Iakov Vorontsov, a prominent Orthodox priest known for his opposition to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, had his pretrial detention extended for another month, his lawyer Galym Nurpeissov told Vlast on April 24. Vorontsov, who was arrested on February 13 on suspicion of drug-related violations, has spent the last two months in detention. [Read more about Vorontsov’s efforts to found an Orthodox church organization independent of Moscow’s influence here.]

On April 19, writer and public figure Mukhtar Shakhanov died at the age of 83. During Soviet times, Shakhanov worked as the editor of several newspapers and journals, and rose to prominence writing a series of articles about the Aral Sea. He later served as Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and as member of the Majilis, the lower chamber of parliament.

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