Shiban was grounded

To close the ring of enemies around itself, Russia only remains to quarrel with Kazakhstan. And she does everything possible for this

On December 16, Kazakhstan celebrated Independence Day, and this year the holiday is more relevant than ever. For almost a week in the republic, a scandal has not been subsided around the statements of two deputies of United Russia that part of the lands of Kazakhstan does not belong to him, and it would be nice to return them at all. The country's Foreign Ministry and the first President Nursultan Nazarbayev tried to minimize damage to the Kazakh-Russian relations, but it seems that this wave of anger by imperial manners of Russian politicians is somewhat stronger.

The situation was heated on December 10, when the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, the State Duma deputy from United Russia, Vyacheslav Nikonov, on the air of the Big Game program, said: “Kazakhstan simply did not exist, northern Kazakhstan was not at all inhabited. They ( Kazakhs . - Ed. ) Existed, but much south. And, in fact, the territory of Kazakhstan is a great gift from Russia and the Soviet Union. ”

Lunches to Kazakhstan Russian politicians and propagandists allow periodically - from Putin to Solovyov. But this one turned out to be especially painful. Nikonov’s rhetoric was too similar to the statements of the late Eduard Limonov, who, being the head of the National-Bolshevik party banned in Russia, spoke several times about the need to annexize the regions of Kazakhstan closest to Russia.

The social networks of the republic were immediately flooded with the proposals to punish Nikonov-to declare him a person Non-grater or to completely start a criminal case against United Russia.

General and no one disputed in Kazakhstan, what is the Channel One and the deputy of the United Russia, says the president thinks.

So, you need to prepare for the fact that "polite people" will soon appear in the country. Initiatives called in the range from the expansion of the program of resettlement of residents of the country from south to north to organize something like battalions of the militia-so, just in case.

The Kazakhstani Ministry of Foreign Affairs unexpectedly promptly handed a note of protest for itself, but not an ambassador, but only to the temporary attorney in the affairs of Russia Alexander Komarov, and Nikonov even tried to clumsily explain himself, without thinking, however, to apologize.

“I believe that the interests of Kazakhstan were fully observed when determining the borders of the Kazakh SSR, which became the boundaries of the Republic of Kazakhstan. That is what I said about the program "Big Game". I take the opportunity to once again express the warmest feelings to the fraternal people of Kazakhstan, ”he wrote in his telegram channel.

And on this everything could have subsided as it had subsided earlier, but on December 14, Nikonov developed on the radio, deputy Evgeny Fedorov (yes, the one who heads the odious national liberation movement-the NOD: his activists like to throw themselves at opponents with poles at the ready). “It’s one thing, a good Russian man gave you, and you appreciate it and are friends with him, and another thing is that you took and spat, as in this case the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan did,” Fedorov said. “When we raise the question of the return of the territory and the restoration of illegal decisions of 1991, in fact, we have one restriction - moral.”

That is, the last moral argument fell after the statement of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. This means that Russia should demand: since you do not recognize this with a gift, then give it. Because you took illegally.

After that, even moderate or completely critical to Kazakh government, experts said that enough to endure it. Loud statements with Hula to the Russian authorities were made by the Nursultan Nazarbayev’s party deputies “Nur Otan”, political scientists openly called on Kazakhstan to leave the EAEU and the CSTO. The scandal has grown to such an extent that neither Vladimir Putin could stop his media effect, who sent a congratulatory telegram on the occasion of December 16 to the current president Tokaev, nor Nursultan Nazarbayev, who declared in his public appeal that Kazakhs were “heirs of the Great Steppes”. “Chauvinists” are the easiest word, which is now jointly called Russian power in Kazakhstan, both loyalists and the opposition.

The statements of Nikonov, and Fedorov, and any other supporters of the “seizure” of the lands of Kazakhstan in favor of Russia are built on several simple arguments. In Northern Kazakhstan, from their point of view, mostly Russians live-these are the descendants of Tselinnikov (the current capital Nur-Sultan was therefore called Tselinograd), and indeed these lands are part of Southern Siberia, and next to the Southern Urals. Solzhenitsyn also wrote about this (even if he was the Nobel laureate in literature, and not in history), the Russians allegedly lived there.

Kazakhstani experts say that this is not at all like that: in the republic, studies of the famous archaeologist, academician Alkeya Margulan, who claimed to be in great authority, have stated that in the Middle Ages, Kazakh tribes lived in the territory of Northern Kazakhstan (local archaeologists, for example, found seven of the XIV century on the territory of the North Kazakhstan region).

That is, the Russians who laid the fortress in these territories in these territories, from which Pavlodar, Petropavlovsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk grew up, from the point of view of Kazakhstani historiography, look as conquerors, and not indigenous inhabitants. Yes, there is an opinion that Kazakhs should not call themselves directly descendants of these medieval tribes, it seems like a historical stretch. Such a dispute, in particular, is constantly spinning around Almaty - either its history began with the founding of the city of Verny, or with the appearance of ancient tribes in these territories 1000 years ago (the official authorities approved the second version as historically true).

In this case, the following sequence would have looked logical in this case: the territory was originally settled by tribes, from which the Kazakhstani state eventually grew, but at a certain historical stage, Russian people appeared on this territory who contributed to the development of both lands and the future state as such. Unfortunately, this approach is unacceptable for the radical aspects of the dispute, and its side effect is the position of Russian “patriots” - “the Soviet Union brought you civilization, and you pay it ungracent”, which makes the story of how much this was brought (the spoiler: not peaceful).

There is another argument. Supporters of the accession of the lands of Northern Kazakhstan to Russia recall that in 1990 a law was adopted on the procedure for withdrawal from the USSR and the status of the territories of states: according to it, the country that leaves the Union should ask permission to take with itself all those lands that came to it already under the Soviets. But Kazakhstan declared its independence even later than the USSR ceased to exist, so this law, which has lost its strength before the appearance of independent Kazakhstan, does not spread. Moreover, if any issues on the border existed, then they were all completely resolved in 2005 by the border agreement ratified by both countries. The countries have no complaints about each other: neither Russia has the northern parts of Kazakhstan, nor Kazakhstan - to the conditional Orenburg (this, by the way, is the first capital of the Kazakh Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic).

Then why do Russian politicians regularly have these phantom pains on the officially alien land?

In fact, the Kremlin, of course, has no plans for the annexation of any parts of Kazakhstan: you need to be an absolute suicide to start an armed conflict with a country, the total border with which is 7.5 thousand kilometers. But the silence of official Moscow - the explanation of the deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on the CIS, Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots Viktor Vodolatsky seem unable to - very significant.

From the point of view of the General Political Line, neither Nikonov nor Fedorov said anything reprehensible: Russia still imagines itself an empire, and rhetoric about gifts is generally a direct reference to such phrases of the president (though Putin did not say this about Kazakhstan). Here, in Russia, they really still think that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Belarus are “younger brothers”, they should obey Moscow in everything, because it knows “how better”.

Treating neighboring countries as an equal Kremlin considers below its dignity. Yes, and ordinary people are not far behind: household nationalism in relation to the “visitors” - exactly from there, from the unnecessary imperial consciousness.

The problem is that the silence of the Russian authorities regarding the statements of its representatives beats right away in all.

According to the reputation of the authorities: in Kazakhstan, they have now finally assured that the face of the official line of the Kremlin is the face of a deputy Fedorov. In Russian in Kazakhstan: in some cases, network persecution of those public figures of Russian nationality began who did not speak out against Russian deputies. Fortunately, it is unpopular among Kazakhstani society and basically represents only verbal attacks-but is it easier for someone? Leaving these statements without reaction, Russia only incites National-patriotic forces in Kazakhstan to accuse the Russian Kazakhstanis of the fact that they are the “fifth column”.

For them, such statements are an occasion to sing a “rifle is a holiday”.

This scandal hits the positions of the current Kazakhstan authorities, which completely suits the Kremlin. One version of the noise arose around the status of Kazakhstani lands is called future parliamentary elections - they say, a month before the plebiscite, everyone around the presidential party, which has an informally low rating - and better than a threat from the outside, you cannot imagine.

Only this would not work in any case: you can unite around real political power, and the Nur Otan deputies and Nazarbayev himself did not even demand the resignation of the deputies of Nikonov and Fedorov (although, probably, they simply understood what the current State Duma was and that such things were not accepted there, not Europe still). The current Kazakhstan authorities will never swear with Russia, but, according to the new logic of society, this is a sign of weakness, not wisdom: you do not defend your position - it means that it is subordinated.

As a result, the current statements about Kazakhstani land only strengthened the creeping anti -Russian sentiments in the republic, which have become aggravated since 2014. If this is meant by “Brotherhood”, about which Putin spoke in the congratulatory telegram to the Kazakh authorities, then this level of political postpower can only be envied.

Although it may be more ironic: on December 16, the Committee on Science in the State Duma supported the project on the dismissal of teachers for inciting various growth. The head of the committee, the State Duma deputy and the author of provocative statements, Vyacheslav Nikonov, furiously supported the initiative.