The Week in Kazakhstan: Your Excellency

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin flew to Astana on May 27 for talks with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and to take part in a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union the following day. Putin hailed the progress on bilateral trade. Tokayev called Putin an “outstanding statesman.”

On May 28, Kazakhstan and Russia signed an agreement on the terms of cooperation for the construction of Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power plant. Kazakhstan's Atomic Energy Agency said that the total cost of the NPP will be $16.4 billion (up from a previous forecast of around $14 billion) and that the first unit should be commissioned by the end of 2034.

On May 25, Kazakhstan’s ministry of justice said that it would not enforce a ruling against Russia’s Gazprom within the country. Last week, an arbitration panel at the Astana International Financial Center ruled in favor of Ukraine’s Naftogaz in a dispute with the Russian gas monopolist. While the ruling seemed to have given green light for the enforcement of the $1.4 billion payment against Gazprom-owned assets in Kazakhstan, the ministry of justice said this was not a final decision and could not be enforced yet. The minister also said that “Kazakhstan’s legal mechanisms do not provide for the adjudication of disputes unrelated to its jurisdiction,” effectively opening the door to a complete overruling of the decision.

Activist Marat Zhanuzakov was detained in Astana on May 27 after he posted a photo of himself holding a banner that read: “Hey, scum, get out of Kazakhstan. Glory to Ukraine!” against the backdrop of a Kazakh and a Ukrainian flag. While he did not explicitly mention Putin, Zhanuzakov had already protested Putin’s previous visit to Kazakhstan in November 2024, when he was also detained and fined, together with fellow activists Baurzhan Baltashev and Ualikhan Negmetov.

The Agency for the Regulation of the Financial Markets published a draft resolution on May 26 that would regulate troubled banks. Once a financial institution finds itself in a dangerous position, the Agency could facilitate the transfer of its assets, shares, or portfolios without the consent of clients and shareholders, the document said.

Businessman Shahkmurat Mutalip became a significant shareholder in Eurasian Resources Group, one of Kazakhstan’s largest mining conglomerates. The announcement came on May 22, when ERG reported that Patokh Chodiev and the family of the late Aleksander Mashkevich sold their stakes to Mutalip for an undisclosed sum. Mutalip now owns a 39.3% stake through his Nature Energy Solutions company. The family of the late Alijan Ibragimov will retain their 20.7%, while the government of Kazakhstan still holds a 40% stake. Mutalip, according to several reports, also showed interest in buying a stake in Kazzinc, currently owned by Glencore. In March, the FT reported that mining giant Glencore would have provided Mutalip with around $800 million out of the $1.4 billion total bid.

Mutalip was also supposed to buy FC Ordabasy, the Shymkent-based football club, on May 28. The auction for the sale did not take place and the club is still in the hands of the city administration. In February, Mutalip had signed a memorandum for the purchase of the club, worth around 225 million tenge ($470,000), through his Integra Construction KZ company.

Utility giant Central Asian Electric Power Corporation transferred a 100% stake in the subsidiary Pavlodar Heating Network to the government for free. The deal, reported via corporate disclosure on May 28, took place at the end of January. This is the third time that CAEC, owned by Alexander Klebanov and Sergey Kan, transfers local heating companies to the state for free: the same also happened for Ekibastuz Heating in 2024 and Petropavlovsk Heating Network in February.

Astana-REC, the capital city’s utility company, applied on May 25 for a permit to increase tariffs by 12.5% starting on June 5. According to the management of the state-owned company, the increase is linked to higher costs of purchasing and servicing electricity. A state committee will review the company’s request.

By the end of 2026, 26 large enterprises will be connected to the emission monitoring system of the ministry of ecology. Deputy minister Zhomart Aliyev told the Majilis on May 28 that this will mark the completion of the program to include 113 large enterprises into the monitoring network. The emissions are logged into the ministry’s monitoring system, but are not available to the public.

EuroChem, a Switzerland-headquartered fertilizer production company, said it commissioned a major plant for the production of sulphuric acid in the Zhambyl region on May 28. With a capacity of 800,000 tons, it ranks among the largest of its kind. In 2014, EuroChem had commissioned a phosphate ore mining and processing complex with an annual capacity of 840,000 tons.

A subsidiary of Denmark’s FLSmidth unveiled on May 27 a $15 million expansion wing of its service center in Karaganda. The company produces and repairs mining processing equipment. Major mining company KAZ Minerals is one of its largest customers.

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