In early January 2022, mass demonstrations triggered by sharp increases in natural gas prices took place in several cities in Kazakhstan. The protests quickly turned into anti-government riots, in which over two hundred people were killed. After turmoil was quelled and the internal situation got under control, the president of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced a plan for political and economic reforms which aimed at a gradual system transformation and elimination of social inequalities. Under the guise of dismantling the oligarchic structure, a struggle for power began between the Tokayev milieu and elites allied with Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first president in the history of the independent Kazakhstan and the state's most powerful political figure thus far.
KBN Commentary no. 3 (92) / 2022
18 February 2022
In early January 2022, mass demonstrations triggered by sharp increases in natural gas prices took place in several cities in Kazakhstan. The protests quickly turned into anti-government riots, in which over two hundred people were killed. After turmoil was quelled and the internal situation got under control, the president of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced a plan for political and economic reforms which aimed at a gradual system transformation and elimination of social inequalities. Under the guise of dismantling the oligarchic structure, a struggle for power began between the Tokayev milieu and elites allied with Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first president in the history of the independent Kazakhstan and the state's most powerful political figure thus far.
In the photo: Anti-government demonstrations in Kazakhstan (Almaty, 6 January 2022).
Photo credit: Twitter.