Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan's Central Referendum Commission (OSK) said that almost three-quarters of voters cast ballots in support of the construction of a nuclear power plant amid a crackdown on activists opposed to the project. 

Media watchdogs and journalists in Kazakhstan have raised fears that new regulations governing reporters, adopted outside a new media law, leave room for authorities to obstruct access to information and limit journalists’ ability to work.

Widespread hopes for a more pluralistic and democratic Kazakhstan are fading some 30 months after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev unveiled his program for dismantling the authoritarian system associated with his predecessor and mentor, Nursultan Nazarbayev. 

Russian President Putin hailed a Central Asian summit as "one of the key pillars of a fair, multipolar world order." … The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit is being held in Kazakhstan's capital city of Astana. … UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who is visiting Central Asia, also attended the summit. … On the security front, Afghanistan — which has observer status in the grouping — was likely to be a topic for the leaders to discuss.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev said on June 3 that his country has taken the Taliban off of its terrorist list. 

[…] Since Moscow launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many in Kazakhstan and elsewhere have considered statements from Chinese leaders regarding Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations to be a message to Russia, where in recent months, many pro-Kremlin politicians and political observers have hinted that Kazakhstan is a takeover target for Moscow.

Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has called a proposal by the authoritarian ruler of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, for Kazakhstan to join the so-called Russia-Belarus Union State a "joke" that has no resonance in the Central Asian country, given its commitments to other international treaties.

Kazakhstan voted in a snap parliamentary election on Sunday (19 March) widely expected to cement President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s grip on power and complete a reshuffle of the ruling elite that began after he fully assumed leadership last year.

The 19 March early parliamentary elections were held in the context of reforms introduced to bring Kazakhstan closer to holding elections in line with international standards and OSCE commitments, as legal amendments addressed several previous recommendations and provided increased choice for voters. 

[…] Ahead of the trip, the Biden administration said it was focused on supporting independence and sovereignty of the region’s five former Soviet republics, which maintain strong political, economic and socio-cultural ties with Russia.